Pray
by Thunder Ice
Summary: Every choice you make counts. When the dead begin to rise and the world comes apart, those choices matter more than ever. Saying and doing marks the difference between pray and prey. Welcome to the end of the world. My first Zootopia fic. Rated T because not explicit enough. Will rate to M when the time comes!
1. Chapter 1: 'Pilot'

**For the past couple months, I've been contemplating on wanting to make a Zootopia fanfic. One idea was a human ending up in Zootopia, but as a mammal, who would then fall in love with Judy and somehow get her in the end. Then I figured, "People will hate that to hell."**

 **So I figured, why not do a zombie apocalypse thing?**

 **This story is set at the very beginning of a zombie apocalypse, when it's just a simple disease going around. Things will escalate with every chapter. For the moment, I have no idea where I plan to go with it after the initial end.**

 **But at the same time, I decided to do my own little thing and make this an AU where Nick is jailed for felony tax evasion. You are a somebody who knows both of them. Hustler, friend, shit thing, you le bang, blah.**

 **If you guys don't like it, I won't hold it against you. Just trying to keep myself indulged in writing stuff, so it might not be meant to be extremely interesting. :)**

 **So, enjoy, I guess. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: 'Pilot'**

At one point in our life, one moment, one minute, one second - we make a choice that changes what we do next, where we go in our lives.

Sometime, somewhere, there will be a comedian who will realize, "I'm not cut out for comedy," and will decide to be a doctor, or maybe even a police officer. Elsewhere, there will be a police officer that says, "I'm not cut out for the force," and will go on to be one of the funniest comedians in history.

But not every choice will be for the greater good. Sometimes, it will lead that mammal into a spiral, down and down they go, until they meet the end of their journey.

A college kid with a bright future ahead of him - he takes a single whiff of coke, and the next thing you know, he's helping make or deal it, just to get another whiff of that sweet powder. And he never plans to go back up, and so his only paths to take are either staying out of the way, or getting himself killed.

When it comes to kids, to mammals like that who take the dark road, it's always the latter.

Well, almost. Not all bad guys or bad girls end up biting the bullet. Sometimes, it's the pillow or a bar of soap. That's when they have the chance to go back and right every wrong they had ever made.

And then - you have me. Who I am isn't all that much of a matter - but the choices are.

I had a good future that was planned for me. My parents loved me and wanted me to make it big in the world, no matter how wrong or how right it would become in due time. I was a near straight A student in school. I went with the right crowd - or however right they were known. I had the dream of becoming a political campaigner.

"Make the world a better place" was the dream of that.

I wanted to make the world safer to live in for me and whatever family I would end up raising in the future.

But it wasn't until my sophomore year of college that my life completely... _fell_ apart.

My mother had died from Cancer that year. I never even got to say goodbye before-...

...

My dad took it the hardest out of the both of us. He fell into a deep depression. Every time I saw him or tried talking to him - there it was, in his paws. That bottle of branded whiskey. It was always the same kind - said it "took the ease off."

I dropped out of college the month after she died just to support him, and by the time I did, my dad wasn't my dad - just a stranger to me.

One night, I hadn't even gone to sleep yet. He just walked out of the house, got into his car, and drove off.

I never saw him again after that. Nowadays, I kind of...laugh about it. As wolves, we can smell things for miles.

Couldn't smell him. He just didn't have the scent I could track, even when I tried.

So after that night, I had to truly get into shape. I was really all alone now.

For the first couple of months, I tried, really tried to support myself to keep the house, our-... _my_ belongings, to keep everything from getting repo'd.

But I didn't have the experience that my dad did, nor that my mom did.

So come four months, and I lost everything. All I could keep were my school things, some toys - from when I was a kit - and some photos.

They were of happier days, but it was difficult to see into that.

The house burned down no more than a week after that. Arson.

It wasn't me, but - a part of me _wanted_ to have done it myself, just to really close that chapter in my life. Someone had done it for me instead, and I was always angry about that.

I knew I couldn't be around there anymore, not in that town.

So the night after that happened, I left the town of Wolfshire. No vehicle, no bike. I just ran away from everything, everyone.

I didn't want to see that town ever again.

For only a few days, I was alone, wandering beside the highway, hoping it would take me someplace. What that someplace would hold, I didn't know - but I wanted to go.

And then-...

Then I found Zootopia.

I knew Zootopia. It wasn't on a personal level, but I knew it like everyone else. One of the largest cities in the world. Predator and prey, living together in harmony, in peace. We learned it in the history books, in museums. Hell - I even went to a museum just _outside_ the city during a field trip. The museum itself was just about the history of the local area, nothing too special.

But the whole time we were there, I was just...looking at the city, standing proudly in the distance. Every building, every seeming corner, every distant car, bridge, highway, skyscraper-...

They all lit up like Christmas trees. I didn't care about anything in the museum - I cared about Zootopia.

Hmm...who knew that I would end up finding this place again, all these years later - all by myself?

Wolfshire was a little over a hundred miles away from Zootopia. On paws, it would take at least a few hours of walking to get there. But I didn't care about how long it took or how far I had to go, _I wanted to go._

And so I did.

I left Wolfshire in the middle of the night.

And by the time the sun shone over the horizon that very morning, I stepped into the city limits of Zootopia.

I had never seen such a busy place. It was the first city, the only city, I had ever been too. The traffic was everywhere, the mammals were big and small and just in the middle. Mice, dogs, _wolves, **elephants**...GIRAFFES!_

The grandest city on the planet was a mixed bag of every animal that ever existed in history, all bunched up here and _living_ together.

I had to admit - I was...I was fucking over _whelmed_ by it all.

And I loved it - I just loved it. It was thrilling, it was surreal, it was...

It was _something_.

And it was difficult.

The city had many hard workers making sure it was safe, secure, and everyone got their fair share of space.

That was where the problems came in.

Finding work here was-...

Well, let's just say that _hard_ is a little more than an understatement. You couldn't even find employment at one of the cheapest fast food gigs around here. Crowded cities likely meant tight work spaces, meaning little to no job openings. Any newcomer here - and that definitely meant me - would be either gifted with a miracle or out of luck.

I never got the miracle, so I spent months on the streets, homeless. It got to the point where I had to sell nearly everything I still had with me just to eat over the days. It was an absolute nightmare. There were times where I, and definitely, thought I was going to starve to death, die in the streets and nobody would bat an eye. It made me question my idea to move here sometimes, even when I pushed on.

And for the last few days of the troubles I endured, I considered moving back to Wolfshire, to deal with the hard problems first on a shorter level instead of staying here and burying myself alive.

Then...

Then I met Nick.

For most of our lives, we grow with the idea that foxes are shifty, untrustworthy - someone you wouldn't dare look up to.

Sure, he was shifty in a way, but Wilde - and that little fennec friend of his, Finnick - was the most trustful mammal I could ever turn to. They both lifted me out of hell and into hope.

At first, I didn't trust them.

Now, and if the situation ever got to that point - I would leave my life in their paws just to set an example.

The two of them hustled their way into their current lives. They would tell sob stories and convince people that what they were doing or saying was true, contribute to helping them out, and making a profit in the end. They had done this nearly every single day for _years_ , since Nick was just a young teenager. It's obvious Finnick was a young adult around that time, but-...

Regardless, they took me in and promised to help me out if I helped them out.

"Can you do that?" the fennec asked me that winter night.

For a moment, I pondered at the question. What I would say, what I would do, would lead me down some kind of path. What that path would be, good or bad, was up to me - right there, right then.

I left them standing there, waiting for me to speak or do.

And with a smile, I shook their paws back.

"Welcome to business, kid."

That day, I became a hustler. I made up stories, I convinced others - and I got paid.

I got better.

I smiled more.

I started to finally live.

...

Six years after that, the world ended.

I miss that now.

 **Pray**

 **by**

 **Thunder Ice**

* * *

 **This is just the simple prologue. Cheesy, yes, but it's really meant to just introduce you to the story.**

 **The first couple of chapters will be set around the time of the film, though there will be difference. For example, the Nighthowler Case doesn't happen, but Otterton will end up missing. What happens will be told later on.**

 **After a few chapters, things will begin to get bad, which involves the placing of Martial Law, riots, power collapse, and the end of society, with the aftermath happening afterwards...duh.**

 **Some may be asking in worry, "Will this OC end up with Judy?"**

 **Probably. Maybe. There's also Honey, who will also be different from the film. I could do anything. For all I know, I could have the OC do Judy, something happens and they split, and then the OC and Honey become a thing, I don't fuggen know, fuget abut it.**

 **So yeah, the next chapter will be soon. :D**


	2. Chapter 2: 'Juicy's'

**Hi. This is the second chapter. Stuff happens.**

 **:)**

 **But yes, this gives a bit more of a flashback type of thing, so not exactly starting off the official story yet. This chapter might be cheesy, but again, just trying to keep myself indulged in writing. There will be a visual dialogue of an accent, but basic enough for you to know what they're saying.**

 **Honey makes an appearance, but she is somewhat ret-conned, different from what she appears to be in both Zootopia and the original Zootopia concept. She's meant to be a lot cuter and... _hotter,_ so to speak.**

 **But she is still a doomsday prepper, so that's good. :)**

 **If something appears cheesy or not amazing, it's probably meant to. You can't have a good story without some cheesy parts. That's what makes it a good story...right?**

 **Right? D:**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: 'Juicy's'**

I made that choice. I went down that path, knowing and taking responsibility for what I would be given, what I would deserve.

And I don't regret it - none of it.

The months before I met Nick and Finnick were a living hell. Trying to provide for myself, living on the streets, losing everything I had so quickly...it was hard to believe it, and at the same time, I can't get it out of my head.

I want it to go away, and every time I try, all I think of is my parents. My mother dying, seeing her at the wake - my father drinking himself away and then driving off for the last time.

My parents were gone.

I guess that's what got me the most.

I didn't have a family anymore.

...The keyword - _didn't_.

Nick was my family. Finnick was my family. Even Honey was my family.

I met her only a few days after I joined the group. Honey was a skinny, slim, short honey badger with some kind of experience in the medical field, but didn't work up to becoming a doctor or a nurse. She didn't care, though. She liked hanging with us, talking with us. Hell, she even like bandaging us up when we ever got in a tizzy, which was...not all _too_ often, but enough for us to get some care from her.

She was, surprisingly, only eighteen when I joined. From what she told me, she had been with Nick and Finnick since she was thirteen. It was odd, knowing she was just a kid when she started hustling. She got her medical experience from being a volunteer nurse at her middle and high school. If only I known that was even a thing...

We all got to know each other over the years. Nick had run away from home after his father had...died. He was insistent on lying to his mother that he was doing well and that things for him were great.

In some ways, that could be true. He _was_ making money.

Finnick was roughly in his mid-thirties, a small looking fennec with a surprisingly deep voice - really wasn't expecting that. His parents were living in a retirement home in Zoo York. Basically, he was the only mammal in our group of four whose parents were both still alive.

Honey was a medical caretaker who didn't even have a high school degree. That was when I asked her, "Then how were you a volunteer nurse in middle and high school?" To which she explained that it was, more or less, a town effort than going to school. Plus, an advantage of being smart at a young age, enough to convince others she was much older than she truly was.

And I was a college dropout - not to mention, every shred of proof that I even went to school went up in flames with my home...so I had that unfortunate thing going.

To be fairly honest, I didn't know who had a rougher life. The least roughest life around here was Finnick's.

All in all, I think Nick's life was the most rough. His father died, he was bullied as a child, and he hardly had any friends. Yes - my mother died and my father became an alcoholic, but I had friends and a good life - well, until I turned 19.

When we had enough trust in each other, we would go out in two different groups - me and Honey, Nick and Finnick. We would pull different stunts and gimmicks every single day for years. When we got what we needed, it was show-time. We met up, went to work, and split the dough at the end of the day. In total, all of our work resulted in up to eight-hundred bucks. Split across each of us, that would be a total of two-hundred each.

Of course, we didn't use two-hundred bucks in one sitting. Being smart, we stored it safe away, only to use it when necessary. Food, water, maybe some medicine, and even some video games while we were at it. But popping out of nowhere and spending two-hundred straight away would definitely draw some eyes. And we didn't want the ZPD barging into our warehouse, because they definitely wouldn't be stopping by for a cup of tea.

Luckily, the warehouse was more or less away from the general city area and more along the docks, the farthest from anyone. The police wouldn't think anything of it.

Our stunts consisted along, somewhat, similar things. For example, Finnick - due to his small size - would commonly play the role of a child or even a toddler. Everywhere they went, they would usually bring an average size baby stroller for the fennec to hop in.

Every once in a while, Honey and I would play the role of a troubled boyfriend and girlfriend, or maybe even husband and wife. I'll admit, I did like Honey a little bit, but not enough to warrant her attention in that way. Our roles would consist of pretending we had a baby on the way or trying to nurture our hungry child. Lily was the baby for those days. She was a small little otter, small enough that she _could_ be passed off as a kid, but she was nowhere near as young as she looked; she was in her mid-twenties when I first met her.

It did draw some eyes of suspicion sometimes. What were the chances of meeting a family who were all completely different species?

Well, it's not un _heard_ of, but it's not super common.

Regardless, it brought me back to this one time, about three years ago, let's say.

* * *

 **THREE YEARS AGO**

It was almost ten, maybe, and we were just starting on our _shift_. As usual, I got into a random set of clothing, put on maybe a little hat, and perhaps some glasses - just enough to make me look like a typical dad.

Not to mention, my dad somewhat did that. Guess it really does run in the family.

Once I was sure I had everything set, I looked myself in the mirror as a way to _finalize_ everything. I went from being 22 to maybe nearly 40 with just a few accessories. And the best thing is, no one'd be able to recognize me, so I'd never have to worry about being noticed the next day over.

For being 28 at the time - Lily was the most adorable looking fake baby I had ever seen. She had these cute little pajamas on and a pacifier in her mouth. She looked like the biggest smallest bundle of joy that ever lived. It took all the effort in my body not to just give her the hugs and kisses she - probably - deserved.

Though, she'd probably claw my eyes out.

It'd be worth it, though.

Then there was Honey.

She was the average mom.

Or should I say, the average "MILF?"

Once we were all set up, it was ten in the morning. We all split off into different paths and lost ourselves into the city of Zootopia. Nick and Finnick went south, Honey and I north. Our target for today was a shop near the Square Plaza - a place called _Juicy's._ From what we knew of it, it was a shop that sold mainly juice: Apple, Lemon, Fruit, etc.

What we _also_ knew was that it was the only shop within a hundred miles that sold a rare type of berry juice, called Sasha. Only a few stores in the country sold Sasha Juice - and today, we wanted to help make it a little bit more... _public_. And it wasn't just because I loved the juice too.

Oh, and there was a third thing about this shop-...

They _hate_ interspecies couples. Some of the mammals in there don't, but the owners loathe it when couples who aren't all dogs or all tigers walk in and "act like they're contributing to something."

And what better way than to take advantage of that?

We loved it.

So today, we went to _Juicy's._

Off we went into downtown. Honey stuck to my side, and Lily was all quiet in her cute little baby stroller. It was smaller than Finnick's, but I don't think she minded. Hell, I think I could hear her snoring. As we walked through the crowded streets, mammals of all kinds were giving us looks. A lot of them were a mix of either confused, positive, or somewhat, "I don't like that, but I won't question it."

You'd think in a world like this, there would be less of that.

The walk from our rendezvous to the shop was no less than ten minutes. On the way, a young couple, a little older than us, noticed Lily and couldn't resist just jumping at her cuteness.

Lily was perfect acting as a young, curious baby. She was giggling and laughing just like a toddler who was fascinated at everything in front of her. Just a bubbly personality. It was adorable and impressive at the same time.

The couple complimented us about 'fighting for the cause'. As usual - whenever a couple would mention it - we would thank them and be on our merry way. We wondered back when we first started doing the gig if Lily would be fine getting the attention and keeping character, but she didn't seem to have all that much of a problem with it. In fact, she might've loved it a little _too_ much.

I guess that could be considered a good thing?

After ten minutes of walking and cutting corners, we arrived at the street. Across it, the shop was in plain site. Mammals of all shapes and sizes were walking in and out as they pleased. Some were young, others were old and elder. There was this one kid who was walking out with a plastic hat that looked like a juice cup, with the words "GOLDEN APPLE" plastered on it. The cub looked so happy too, wearing it proudly on his head as he hopped out at his mother's side.

Hey, I might even get one for Lily - who'd stop me, anyway?

Once the light turned red and the cross-walk was open, Honey and I made our way across the street. As we got closer, we immediately got into our true character. Today, it was a troubled and broke married couple who just wanted to hydrate their adopted thirsty child today.

And if baby doesn't get her drinkie, baby will cry.

And god, I'd be damned if her crying wasn't cute.

...

I was saying this about an otter who was almost 30 years old.

After a few tedious moments of walking and getting the stroller up on the pavement, we were close to the shop, close enough to see through the windows, though faintly. On one of the windows beside the door hung a small sign, visible for all to read:

 _WE DO NOT SERVE INTERSPECIES COUPLES!_

When I saw that hanging and gently bobbing back and forth with the wind...I...I didn't know why it-... _bothered_ me so much. Maybe it was just the character, or maybe I was truly annoyed with that.

But I had to ignore it. It was just a simple little task, right? How hard could it be to get some simple juice?

We passed the sign and made our way to the door. I immediately got into shape. With a slight push of our paws, Honey and I opened the door, which let the little bell above ding on to show we were making an entrance.

Once we stepped inside, we had a clear view of the shop. It was not small, but it wasn't very big, either. Today, it seemed to be packed, with mammals of all kinds at nearly every table. There was even a little section for rodents. A lot of the mammals were either having juice and perhaps a snack that they either brought in or purchased from the side-menu. Either way, everyone seemed to be having a normal time.

Nobody seemed to notice us at all.

Well, except for the guy at the stand, the apparent owner of the shop - an old looking moose that had to have at least been in his 50s.

And he did not seem very happy.

Even from the door, I could hear him whisper, "Oh, Jeez," and it was clear it wasn't positive in any way or fashion.

He was really annoyed with the fact that we stumbled into his shop.

But we didn't leave like he probably wanted us to. With a short breath of air, I started walking up to the front counter. His expression did not change, that constant look of disdain and annoyance - but we just kept walking up to him.

When we stopped, I started opening my mouth. But before a single word could even be ushered out of it, the owner barked back with a plain, stern-...

"No."

I stared for a minute, somewhat shocked by his immediate reaction to us. A part of it was character, but the other part was just _me._ But I did my best to lean more towards the character.

"I...It won't take but a moment...sir."

He didn't respond. He still looked generally annoyed, but he wasn't stopping us.

"M-My name is Will."

"And I don't care. Your point is?"

I stopped again. I turned towards Lily and calmly looked at her.

"My daughter is...really thirsty. We don't exactly have the money to go anyplace else to get anything, everything's so...expensive nowadays."

The owner looked at my 'daughter' then back to me.

"...And?"

My character looked in disbelief, but at the same time, in a pleading manner. I briefly looked back to Honey. In a way, she could tell it wasn't just the character who was put off by it, but she didn't say anything. I turned back to the owner.

"A...And I was-...hoping...that maybe...you could-"

"Get it over with, IS," he piped back, "I've got a lot of _normals_ to serve."

Silence. Again, it was off-putting.

 _Just get it over with_.

"Could you, perhaps...maybe-...spare us some Sasha Juice for her. You're the only store that's got it within a hundred miles. And I've always wanted to get her some."

His face contorted into a mocking manner.

"Oh, well ain't that _fuckin'_ sweet? A _wolf_ daddy who wants to get his _otter_ daughter something to drink from _MY_ shop? Is that so?"

I was put off again by his immediate reaction, which - something I didn't exactly want that much - started to draw some eyes from the tables.

"S-Sir, there's no need to ye-"

And that just set him off.

"Not _only_ are you fucking blind for not reading the goddamn sign, and not _only_ are you fucking deaf when I said NO, but now you're telling _me_ what to do? In my _own_ fuckin' store? I don't give two shits if your daughter is sick or dyin', she ain't gettin' shit from this place, and that's final! I Don't. Serve. Interspecials!"

That definitely drew the crowd. All eyes in the entire store - young, old, middle, male, female. They were glancing and looking at us - me, Honey, even Lily, and also the owner.

But definitely, it was the owner they were looking at the most.

"You understand?!"

The entire shop got quiet. Like - it was _really_ quiet. The only sound that anyone could hear was the faint breathing of each other, the heavy, angry breathing of the owner, and the sounds of horns and sirens going off in the city outside. Everyone was wide-eyed and frozen in place.

For those first few moments, I couldn't say or do anything. I was just...shocked, my mouth slightly open, as if trying to say something and just hanging it in disbelief.

I mean...I knew they hated interspecials...but...

...but I got into character quick just to make that statement.

"I came in here, being completely nice to you, not trying to start a goddamn fight. I just wanted to get my daughter a _goddamn_ drink! And you go off on a tangent that wasn't fucking needed-...what, because you don't _like_ us? Because you don't think we're normal?!"

And he pipes right back at me with his own little 'response'.

"That's right! The shit you're doin' _ain't_ **normal!** What kind of freak thinks anything could ever happen between a predator and a prey, honey badger and a wolf - two completely different fuckin' species, not to mention just doin' a good job at fuckin' up your own race's future-"

I stopped him in his tracks with my own quip.

Half of it was character - but at the same time - it was true.

"-So what if I'm a wolf? So what if she's a honey badger? Why the hell does that matter?! I _love_ her! I love my wife, my goddamn honey badger wife! And I love my beautiful daughter who just so happens to be an otter!"

For the time being, I was right. Even if I was playing a fake mammal, I still had some bit of truth in me.

The owner was truly pissed at this point. I could virtually see the air flowing out of his nose, and the red through his fur.

But I kept on going.

I turned around and looked towards Honey. She was showing all kinds of expressions - worry, confusion, amusement, even? And there was even that pint of anger towards the owner, so at least I wasn't alone in that.

Lily was in a mix of keeping character - which, at this point, would consist of her about to cry from all the loud noises and 'daddy getting mad' - and trying not to stop it all. But she knew that if she broke character, it'd be all for nothing.

But even then, I probably still wouldn't stop arguing with the owner.

Speaking of the owner, I turned to Honey and got close to her. And for a brief few moments, I bent down and gave her a warm, embracing kiss. While that, it was also in a mocking fashion. It clearly took Honey by surprise, but she likely knew it was just to 'prove a point' to the moose.

After I stopped kissing my 'wife', I looked back to the owner. Still angry.

"You have a problem with this?" My tone was calmer, but I was still definitely upset and angry.

For a few moments, I waited for a response from the moose. Another spurt of anger or hatred towards 'us'?

"I. Am not. Serving you."

The bastard definitely stuck to his guns. And that was frustrating, especially with his little problem.

He pointed his hoof towards the door, still looking at us.

"Now get. Out."

The whole plan wasn't meant to go like this - or maybe it was. We didn't think it was going to be extremely hard to convince this prick to just give us even a small sample of Sasha. Even after this whole little argument, he still didn't seem to budge.

And the crowd just stared on. Many of them weren't sure whether to interfere or stay out of it.

I tried thinking for a few solid moments something to say, something to maybe let us take something. If it wasn't Sasha juice, then-...

No. Sasha is what we were here for. We had to try harder, right?

But Honey put a single paw on my shoulder and whispered to me.

"Hey," she started, "It's okay. It's not worth it right now."

"But-..."

"...We can try again some other time. It's not that big a deal."

S...

She was right. It wasn't that big of a deal. The juice, of course - that was what she was talking about, right?

I just...This prick...He...

In the middle of that shop, in front of Honey, in front of Lily, in front of all those mammals-...

I felt so defeated. We couldn't get what we needed today - and it made _him_ seem right.

Was he?

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

One of the mammals in the shop spoke up, getting out of his chair and standing, facing the owner. The guy, a cheetah - and a father of three - had a look of plain annoyance on his face. All eyes were drawn to him.

Lily was more in character, so rather than also turn to the mammal, she was just giggling to herself while looking at her paws and playing with them.

Or maybe she took something again.

"Who gives a shit if they're interspecial? They're _your_ goddamn customers, treat them with some respect, you prick!"

Luckily enough, a few others in the shop agreed with the stranger.

The owner had definitely landed himself in scalding hot water.

But the old fart didn't seem to care still, even when mammals were starting to oppose against him. As he did a minute ago, he pointed to the sign hanging outside.

"No. Interspecies couples. Allowed. If you're interspecial and you walk in anyway, _expect to get yelled at!_ "

Damn, he was persistent. Like - too damn persistent. What does it take to convince this guy to do anything?

I decided to speak up. The last thing I wanted to cause a riot or _him_ to shoot someone...or me. Or Honey. There was the small chance he'd shoot Lily, but surely he wasn't _that_ crazy - right?

"No," I started, "It's fine. He's not gonna listen, but-..."

I stopped and briefly looked down, characteristically and generally upset.

"...-Thanks, anyway."

I grabbed Lily's stroller and turned it towards the door. With the bar gripped in my paws, I started pushing forward and began to walk out, Honey at my side. She could tell that I wasn't just upset or frustrated by us not getting the Sasha, but she wasn't willing to talk about it until after we were out of side.

And the prick just kept on talking as we were leaving.

"That's right," he shouted out at us, "Get outta here, you bunch of _abnormals_!"

But he didn't stop there. He mentioned Honey. I didn't hear exactly what it was, but-...

I was growling beneath my breath.

But I didn't say anything. I didn't want to cause anymore of a scene than we already did.

So I kept on walking.

But-...not before grabbing a hat. As we passed by the box containing the cup-hats, I quickly reached in and grabbed a purple one. It would fit on her head, and it wouldn't slide off.

The two of us walked out of the shop without saying anything else to the mammals or the owner.

At the same time, we weren't the only ones who left.

Within the minute we left the shop, by the time we were on the other side of the street where we were before, we looked back to _Juicy's_ to see what seemed to be everyone who was in there before flocking out of there nearly at the same time.

At least _something_ good came out of it.

* * *

Once we were far from the shop, we took a turn into an alleyway and stopped. I placed the stroller down in front of me and leaned against the brick wall of a building. I looked down to the overgrown concrete and placed my arms in a cross. For a second, none of us said anything to each other - we were more or less catching our breath.

But once the time passed, Lily took the pacifier out of her mouth, lifted the hat over her face - how cute - and spoke up.

"Well," she started, "That didn't go like we thought it would."

Silent for a few seconds.

"No," Honey piped up, "...It didn't."

Even when I was zoning out a bit - maybe it was the shop, or maybe I was still a bit tired from waking up so early - I could tell Honey was looking at me. She knew I was upset.

"Hey."

I eyed her. She was looking back at me, taking off the hat she had on and placing it on the stroller, before walking up to me.

"Are you okay?"

With a nod, I replied, "Yeah."

Initially, I was telling the truth. I was doing my best not to let it get to me. But at the same time, it became a lie, and she saw through it.

I said, "No," almost immediately afterwards. I looked away from her, only to eye her again.

At first, I sighed through my nose, before briefly opening my mouth to let the rest of the air out. The sigh was quick, but it got to the point.

"I know the goal was to get the juice and all, but...just-...the way that guy went off on us, on _you_ , I couldn't-"

She said my name and stopped me before I finished.

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. Lean down."

A weird request, but nonetheless, I leant down, only for her to gently hold onto my snout with both of her paws.

"To them, you were just a poor father who got flak for something he believed in and defended himself. They'll think nothing of it. Just don't forget what we were there for...okay?"

She was right. I was a father who got yelled at by an asshole just because he wanted to give his daughter something to drink.

To them. To me, I was a hustler trying to _convince_ an asshole to give me some juice so I could sell it elsewhere and make a profit. That was the plan. I had to keep on that.

After a minute, I nodded gently.

She smiled and gave me a warming hug. When she pulled away, she spoke up again.

"It'll be fine. Just don't let it get to you, okay?"

I smiled back.

"...Alright."

She knew I was hesitant, but I was more focused on our job, so she didn't question it again. She gave me a brief pat on the shoulder.

"C'mon," she started walking, "We should go check on Nick and Finn."

With a nod, I picked up the hat and handed it back to her. Lily got comfy in her stroller again, which I turned and started for the street.

As I walked forward, Honey returned to my side - my 'wife' again for the time being.

Once we were back into the street, we kept going in the direction we had before. We were at least a couple minutes from the shop, so it would be at least another seven minutes before we were back to the rendezvous. As we had done before, we engaged in conversation to keep things interesting.

Lily decided to take a power nap - something I honestly really needed right now.

Why did we have to do this so early? I mean, to some, ten in the morning isn't really early - but when you'd rather prefer waking up for lunch than breakfast, three years won't change the fact that you didn't like mornings.

But...a gig's a gig, so you had to make sacrifices where due.

After a few more minutes, we were back at the point; when we got into the alley, the van was there, as expected - meaning they either did their job and finished early, or we were taking too long than usual.

Honey walked up to the back end of the van and gave it a couple of knocks.

"You guys in there?" she hollered.

A brief snort of one of their noses indicated they were likely napping and waiting for us. After a few seconds, we heard a few pitter-patters of paws on a metal floor, before the back doors of the van opened up to reveal Finnick, looking as if he had just woken up from a nap. Behind him, we could see Nick doing nearly the same. It took a moment or two before Finn recognized us.

"Where've you guys been?" he started. "We've been waiting for twenty minutes."

Honey apologized, "but we ran into some problems."

"What _kind_ of problems?"

Nick intervened.

"You guys get the juice?"

Honey's mouth turned into a 'click to the side' kind of look, followed by the shake of her head.

"What happened?"

I piped in, explaining the situation.

"Turns out the owner is a bigger asshole than we thought. No matter what we did or tried, he just refused to give us _anything_. Every time I tried to convince him, he'd just...talk shit about us and try to kick us out. He wasn't gonna listen, so we didn't have any other choice but to just go."

I didn't want to mention the little debacle I also made about the whole interspecial thing, so I left it out and skipped right to the end.

"But at least there are two pluses."

"Which is...?" Finnick raised an eyebrow.

I raised a paw.

"One - I probably just single-handedly put the guy out of business, and two-..."

I lifted Lily from the stroller and showed her to the two.

"I got Lily this cute lil hat. What do you think-?"

"Hold up, back up," Finnick stopped me. "What do you mean _out of business_?"

I leaned my head to the side as I put Lily down for her to stand on her own.

"Well..."

Once I had a clear way to explain it, I told Finn and Nick exactly what happened and what had gone down. That even meant mentioning the fact that I kissed Honey, who had only blushed a slight bit a moment.

When I finished, Nick clapped slowly. At first, I was sure he was sarcastic.

"Way to go, _hustler._ "

But it turned out he was legit...about the kissing thing.

Finn, on the other paw, was not as happy. He sighed a little, but he wasn't upset.

He did state, however:

"You _can't_ let your personal views get in the way of these gigs, man."

"I wasn't!" I held out my arms in protest.

Finnick wasn't convinced, only raising his eyebrow again and looking at me for a few moments.

"I mean-...I _was_ , but-..."

I stared at him for a minute, trying to explain it better, maybe in a more understanding way.

With a brief sigh, I spoke up again.

"Well-...to be honest...I kinda _was_ in character. I mean...we _were_ a couple that was two different species, wolf and honey badger. Basically, I was...playing a father who had his own views and got into a heated argument.

"I mean...yeah, it wasn't supposed to go down the way it did, but...I wasn't exactly breaking character, and-...at the same time, I... _was._ "

To be honest, even then, I still said it in a confusing manner, but I somewhat got the point across. I didn't break, and yet, I did.

Luckily, Nick stepped forward and replied.

"Yeah," he started with a faint smile, "We got ya, pal."

I smiled faintly back and gave a small nod.

After a brief second of quiet, the tall fox clapped his paws together.

"Whelp, let's not waste anymore time, right? We still got enough Sasha to make some cash. _Juicy's_ was more of an...extra credit kinda thing."

I tilted my head. "So, we didn't have to _go_ there?"

"Weeeell...not really - _BUT,_ it could've helped us make a bit more today. No biggie, though."

Kinda was. I could've not argued with the prick, but at the same time, I could've made twice the regular cash.

I was having mixed signals. But I shrugged it off with a semi-playful shake of my head and a snout sigh.

"Let's get to work!" Nick shouted as he made his way to the passenger seat. Lily got out of the stroller and into the back of the van, while Honey and I folded up the stroller and lifted it in.

Once that was done, we hopped in and closed the doors behind us. Once they were closed, Finnick seated himself into the driver's seat and shifted the gear into D. We took off and were back on the road.

As Finn drove and started having a chat with Nick, Lily began removing her baby pajamas. Beneath the childish clothing was a white tank-top and khaki shorts.

Adorable as a baby one second - hot as a 28 year old the next.

"If you want, you can chuck the hat," I said to the small otter.

A click of her mouth and a tilt of her head, she replied, "Nah, I think I'm gonna keep it. It's dumb - but, I like dumb."

"I think it makes you look cute," Honey remarked.

"That's the plan - right?"

For being almost 30 years old, she had the personality of a mix between a teenager and a small cub.

I bet she hasn't changed at all since she was a kid.

At least, I hope not.

As we all chatted with one another, Finn drove us to Tundratown, the arctic sector of the city, commonly for the warm-blooded civilians. Our gig - the one we had done commonly - was sell our own brand of popsicles. We called them Pawpsicles. Get it, because-...you know, our...paws...

The first step was getting the liquids necessary - today, Sasha. The next step was driving to Tundratown and shaping them up.

That included getting our paws into the snow and making the shapes. Nick and Finn had their own set of similar paws to work with, so they were always together. Honey, Lily, and I all had different sets, so we all had our different stands in other parts of the city. That way, it would make it less suspicious than if we were all together at the same spot.

The third step meant pouring said liquids into said prints, placing the popsicle sticks into said puddles, and letting them freeze. Roughly, this would take at least twenty minutes - ten on a good day. Once they were all frozen, we would pick them out, wrap them up, and dump them into an average-sized cooler.

Step five then included driving each of us to different areas of the city. Nick and Finn would take Savannah Central, Lily would take Sahara Square, and Honey and I would take the city center.

For the first few gigs we did, we all usually let Honey serve her stand on her own, meaning I would take the Rainforest District. But after what happened last year...

It took some time for me to convince her that the sheep was a business mammal, not a spy tracking her down. That earpiece he had didn't do any favors.

Since then, I've stayed with her, making sure every _sheep_ customer didn't get tackled down and questioned about "what their plan is."

Before Finn dropped us off, we made sure we got into a different set of clothing so we looked nothing like a husband or a wife. When that was all set, we tried coming up with different accents to get into character. While Honey got into a simple Zoo York accent, I decided to go more along a Kingdom Island accent.

"Roight, so whut's the plan then?"

"Sell the Pawpsicles, collect the money, and head out."

"And?"

She knew what I was talking about.

With a sigh, she added, "...And don't tackle any spi-sheep. Don't tackle any sheep."

I chuckled. Feeling calmer, I gently rested my paw on her back.

"Rellax, Hun. Not oll sheep are out to get you."

"So you're implying that there _are_ sheep out to get me?"

"You know whut aye mean," I said with an eyebrow raised.

"But you didn't say _no_."

With a gentle shake of my head, I laughed a little again.

"And aye didn't say _yes_."

Another minute later, we arrived at our stop. We got out of the van, thanked Finn, and waved them goodbye until the next few hours. Once we closed the back doors, the van drove off until it turned a corner.

Making sure we got everything we needed, Honey and I began to set up our little makeshift stand. Mainly, it consisted of a small table, a little banner with the word PAWPSICLES plastered on it, and a separate cooler with pawpsicles stored inside. All in all, it took only a couple of minutes to set it up.

When we were ready, Honey turned on her radio, set it on the table, and rang the bell. Reaching into the cooler and grabbing a frozen treat, she hollered to the public.

"Pawpsicles! Get ya Pawpsicles here! Ya not gonna wanna miss these, folks!"

Nailed the York accent well, as usual.

"Now presenting..." I started before flipping a small banner.

"Sasha Pawpsicles! The rarest, sweetest, most delicious flavor en all of Zootopia is now a Pawpsicle! Get them roight heah, roight now! Foive bucks each!"

And - with the street being one of the busiest, as expected - mammals of all sizes, ages, and shapes began to line up at the sound of the word 'Sasha'. Citizens were reaching into their wallets, grabbing their cash, and started buying Pawpsicle after mouthwatering - and slightly melting - Pawpsicle.

Many of the customers seemed to be excited and happy, even exclaiming that it had been years since they had anything Sasha-flavored. Others seemed to be merely curious, like they hadn't tried it before, but were interested in trying it out.

After a few customers had come and gone, I added a discount in the events that a cub was present. Even though five bucks wasn't as costly as some would think for a popsicle in general, I felt that kids shouldn't have to pay too much for a simple treat, especially if they decided to come back for seconds.

And I hoped they would come back for seconds.

Within twenty minutes, half the cooler was empty, and there was still a pretty big line.

But with just a brief look, I knew why the line was big.

Half the mammals here were from _Juicy's_.

None of them seemed to recognize me - which was a good thing.

However, Honey tried to stay out of line of sight as best as she could, at least until many of them had come and gone.

With every mammal that came up and handed me their money, I gave them a Pawpsicle in return, thanking them and sending them on their way. With every cub that came along, they - along with their family, if they came with one - were given one for less. Again, I thanked them and sent them along.

One of the very last customers that came along started a quick talk with me as we were making the purchase.

"These Sasha flavor?" he asked.

"You bet, mate!" I responded in-character. "We heard Sasha in Zootopia was rare, so we figured, _Why not?_ "

"I agree to that."

We smiled at each other as he gave me the cash, and I gave him the Pawpsicle.

Then he asked me this one question.

"You do this a lot?"

At first, I just assumed he meant by selling Pawpsicles, so my first reaction to it was:

"Of coose'! Nothin' makes maye day moore than cooling customers down, right?"

It was a cheesy response to it, but what could I say? I was kind of right, anyway.

I figured that would be the end of the conversation, and we would part ways.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

With a quick glance upward, I looked at him. For the first moment, I was honestly confused.

"...Whut do you mean?"

The guy laughed a little.

What about?

"If it makes you feel any better - I hated that moose, too. Nice accent, by the way."

My eyes went wide, but not wide enough to draw attention.

He knew it was me, if my reaction made any further indication.

With the Pawpsicle in his paw, he raised it to me and bid me a good day, before walking down the street with the rest of the crowd.

With a tilt of my head, I quickly asked myself - was I _really_ that recognizable? Was I still wearing something from the shop? Or did he recognize us because Honey and I were still together?

Before I could turn and ask the guy, he was gone. I never saw him again after that - like you'd expect in a city like this.

I tried to shrug it off as best as I could while I went to wrapping up the rest of the customers, and with that, the rest of the Pawpsicles. As I did - Honey walked up to me.

"What was that about?" she asked. To be honest, I expected someone like her to have heard it.

As the last customer left, I turned to her, but I didn't know exactly what to say. What could I say? What were the chances I'd-

I saw the blur out of the corner of my eye. In a split moment, I pushed Honey out of the way.

And the next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground, a splitting headache in the back of my head. With my eyes gripped shut, all I could feel was my body being picked up, only to be slammed against a nearby light pole. The sudden hit forced my eyes open.

It was the moose, that prick I had it out with just a couple hours earlier.

Did he follow me, or did he also "just happen to recognize me?"

He held a hoof against my throat, hoisting me against the pole.

And he just went off on me.

"You hustlin' little, cheatin' mother _fucker!_ "

The mammals walking up and down the sidewalk slowed down and watched the scene go down.

"You think you can just waltz into _my_ shop and try and _cheat_ me outta my _fuckin'_ shit? Fuck you!"

And then he punched me with his other hoof. Straight into my goddamn eye. Pain shot through my head, and my vision went blurry for a moment or two. I tried shaking my head to focus, but it only made it worse.

But I tried to keep in character, even when I'm getting the shit beat out of me.

"A...Aye don't know whut you're t-"

"Don't fuckin' try that shit on me again, you _stupid_ **cunt!** I ain't playin' games, motherfucker! If I lose my business to a _SHIT_ stain like you, you're gonna be nothin' but a fuckin puddle of blood on the _fuckin'_ pavement!"

He shook me with nearly every word or curse word he said. It made the pain in my head grow worse with every time.

I think he broke my jaw too with that hit - and he didn't even hit me there-

"Hey! Let him go!"

Honey ran up to the both of us and tried to break up the fight. Everyone was watching - but nobody interfered except for her.

" _HEY!_ I said-!"

And then he struck her.

Right across the cheek, he hit her so hard, she stumbled backwards and fell to the ground - gripping her face with her paw, tears immediately forming in her eyes - the crowd gasping in shock.

He turned his head to her.

"And **you...!** "

In that brief moment of distraction, I curled my paw into a fist and struck him back, as hard as I could for the moment.

He was thick as could be, but sure enough, he stumbled, just enough for him to drop me. Without hesitation, I rammed myself into his pelvis, taking him down to the ground himself, and even causing him to momentarily hold his maker in pain.

I took the time to deal my own blows back, even trying to keep him on the ground. But he recovered quick and managed to push me off. By the time he got up on his hind hooves, I was back on my paws. When we both had a clear view of each other - we started exchanging hits.

Some in the ribs, some in the legs or the shoulder. Sometimes, they were in the face. When he tried to ram me, I dodged as quick as I could. He barely nudged my foot, but it still sent me spinning quickly to the ground. When his guard was down, I got onto his back and tried to tackle him back down.

"You don't _fuckin'_ **_touch_** _HER_!"

Screw character right now.

In the background, I could hear the sounds of mammals cheering. Very few of them were cheering for the moose - but many of them were cheering for me. They never knew my name, so it was more of a "Go, Wolf!" type of thing. It was common in fights if nobody knew the names of fighters.

For a brief second, I turned around and saw a few strangers tending to Honey, who was sitting down, still holding her now black and blue cheek - and she was crying, tears down her face and red.

She was hurt. She-

The moose struck me when _my_ guard was down. I was knocked back onto my back. My vision blurred again for a moment, and my hearing was off - and yet, I could still hear the citizens cheering and screaming.

And then I could hear the sound of the sirens.

As the moose stood on top of me, ready to beat my face in - he went down, immediately starting to convulse. As my vision came clear, I could see strings.

He was being tased.

When my hearing came clear too, the cheering had stopped, and it was more of gasps and chatter between random pedestrians. The ZPD had quickly come into my view. Thankfully, they weren't pointing their tasers at me, but rather, at the moose.

Though, they _did_ hold me down. It was for safety reasons. Can't complain.

"Let me go, you stupid bastards!" I could hear the moose bickering and yelling at the officers.

"Sir, you need to stop resisting!" one officer said, trying to calm him down.

The moose just spit in his face and yelled, "FUCK you!"

That earned him another tase. He shouted and screamed, but they ignored him.

Good.

Once everything settled down - or settled down as best as it could - I was carefully propped up against a building wall, and the moose was seated in a police car, but the door open and his hind legs sitting outward. When Honey was stable enough, she came to me.

"Oh my god," she started, "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "I'll be fine."

"You sure as hell don't _look_ fine."

"Honey," I remarked with a stern, but caring look. "I'm okay. Really."

"Does a black eye look okay to you?"

Before I could make any kind of witty remark - not that I could much, anyway - one of the officers by the car walked over to me.

"Excuse me, sir," he started. "This moose here - a Mr. Jackson Moorse - says you were at his store this morning, a place called _Juicy's_. Is that true?"

I got into character immediately.

"N-No, sir. Not at oll."

"The bastard's lying!" the moose now known as Jackson yelled in the distance. The officer in front of me ignored him and continued.

"May I see some ID, please?"

"Yeah, sure."

With no reluctance, I hand him my ID card, and he immediately begins to take a look at it. A simple picture of a wolf with a goofy smile.

"Mr. Alexander Barkson, DoB 2-4-84, born in Zootropolis of Kingdom Island - correct?"

"Yes, that's roight."

Nope, none of it was. Fake name, fake birthplace. Date was right, but about seven years off.

He took a couple more moments to observe the ID before giving it back to me, thanking me.

"You're welcome," I said as I put it back into my wallet.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a couple of questions."

"Sure, go ahead."

The officer nodded, took out a small notebook, and grabbed a pen.

"First question - where were you at ten-twelve this morning?"

I quickly thought up a concept in my head and went with it.

"We were on our way heah. We had recently, then, just finished op squeezing out some Sasha from their berries and were headin' to a friend of ours to freeze em op."

"To make these 'Pawpsicles', correct?"

"Yes."

Again, no.

"Question two - how did you make the Pawpsicles?"

"Well, it's pretty simple-..."

For several minutes, the officer questioned me multiple times, all asking about where I was, what I was doing at this time or that time, or whatever general whatever. When he got to the time Jackson had mentioned, I simply stated that we were 'chillin' about' at our 'buddy's' house.

Once he was finished questioning me, he thanked me and headed over to Jackson. The rest of the officers were busy clearing the crowds and making sure everybody went back to doing whatever they had been doing, while the other officer had started questioning Jackson. It took a little less time, considering how few questions they asked him.

Within about five minutes, the officer had returned to me, and said I was free to go.

" _WHAT_?" Jackson screamed.

"The ambulance should arrive in the next couple minutes, so I'd advise to just remain there until they get here. Once you're all cleared, you can leave."

I looked over to Jackson, who was definitely furious.

"Whut about _him_?" I stated as I pointed towards him.

"There's enough evidence to know he was the cause for the incidence at his own store and the incidence here. We'll be taking him in for questioning. If we get enough of an answer, there's a chance he'll be spending time for discrimination and battery on innocents."

Curious, I asked how long he'd spend.

"Discrimination would earn him a few months. Battery or assault would be up to five years sentence."

Only five years? If I hadn't known any better, I'd have assumed the guy was trying to murder me in front of everyone. Five years was on the edge with me. Whether it was short or long - for the moment, I didn't care. As long as he'd get something out of it, I was okay with it.

Of course, I guess that'd mean ditching the Alexander fursona for a while.

Well - not until he gets out, at least.

After a few more exchanging of words, the police freed me and placed Jackson into the car. Once they got in and drove off into the distance, a few other officers remained to keep the crowd going instead of bunching up. After another minute, the ambulance came around and started to treat our injuries. If they were serious, the we'd have to go with them to the hospital - something I wasn't exactly planning today.

Luckily, the only injuries I had sustained was a black eye and some bruises. Honey was merely a bruised cheek and a somewhat black eye. It was something we "could walk off."

However, they recommended one of their creams in order to either lessen the swelling or heal them faster.

All in all, that general part took at least fifteen minutes, during which, most of the crowd had dissipated. By the time the ambulance had left, we had blended into the general crowd of mammals passing left and right.

With the money collected, the Pawpsicles sold, and the whole situation done and over with, Honey and I started to take apart the stand and pack everything up. Every once in a while, Honey would gently rest her paw on her bruise. At one point, I placed my own paw on her shoulder, telling her it was okay and that I'd pack up the rest. At first, she was reluctant, but she nodded and stood by as I packed up everything else.

Once that was done, I gave Finn a call and asked to come pick us up. "We're done here."

After the brief conversation, Honey and I stood next to our things and waited at the side of the street for at least ten minutes. By then, it was around one o'clock in the afternoon; the sun had shone almost straight in the sky. The air was filled with the pitter-patter of paws of all shapes and sizes - and the streets were filled with mammals of all shapes and sizes.

I could hear the sound of a plane flying overhead, and the sound of a Gazelle advertisement going on a few blocks away, advertising one of her upcoming concerts.

Maybe I could make up for today by getting Honey a ticket. She loved Gazelle.

Least I could do, anyway.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the van turned from a corner and made its way towards us. Even from far away, we could see both Finn and Nick's looks of confusion and immediate shock.

First time I ever saw Finn look shocked in years.

When the van pulled beside us, we quickly picked up our things, opened the back end, and placed them in before jumping in. As we closed the door, Nick turned around to us and had a look of clear surprise on his face.

"Sweet Achilles, what _happened_?" he asked with widened eyes and a brief twitch of his nose.

I briefly held my bruised eye and looked towards the red fox. Raising the other eyebrow, I asked him:

"You remember when I went to _Juicy's_ and how the owner was a bit of an asshole?"

"...Yeah?"

"Yeah, he happened."

Finn turned around. "He beat the shit out of you?"

As I nodded, Nick got out of his seat and crawled into the back, only just now noticing Honey's bruises.

"...You too?"

The honey badger nodded with a faint smile and waved a single paw.

"I'm fine, Nick. Really."

The fox gently pet the fur of her head. "You sure?"

She nodded again. "You should've seen him beat the shit out of that moose. Right after he hit me, he just...went _off_ on him."

"But how did he know it was you?" Finn asked.

Grabbing a small ice pack from one of the coolers within the van and placing it on my eye, I remarked:

"Could be two reasons. One, the two of us were standing together - where just hours ago, we were also standing together. And two, he saw the both of us standing together behind a stand that said SASHA PAWPSICLES, again - hours after he met a wolf and honey badger 'couple' who was looking for Sasha.

"He probably put two and two together and just went for it. Besides..."

I leaned back. "He wasn't the only one who recognized me. One of the customers recognized me too."

"Really?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, right before it happened. Probably for the same reasons, too."

Finn turned back again. "What happened to the guy?"

"They took him in," Honey replied. "Tased him mid-battle then dragged him right into the car. And he _wasn't_ happy, either."

With a brief pat and brush of Honey's head, Nick went back into his passenger seat.

"Let's go pick up Lily," he says to Finn. The small fox puts the gear back into D and starts driving again. The red fox adds as he turns back to us, "I bet she'll be in for a surprise when she sees her 'parents' got in a fight."

With a playful scoff and a brief chuckle, I replied, "Probably."

* * *

It took about twenty minutes to get from our point of the city to the outskirts, where Lily had set up shop. By the time we got there, she was already done with her sales, just in time for us to pull up. She quickly got her stuff packed up, which was significantly much less than ours or even Nick and Finnick's.

When she opened the back doors and saw us, black eyed and bruised, she dropped it with a gasp.

"What the hell happened?!" she yelled.

"The moose happened," Honey replied. "We'll explain it when we get home, c'mon."

After another brief moment of shock, she picked her stuff back up and hopped into the car. I lifted up her legs and closed the doors behind her. Finn started driving again. For nearly the whole way home, Lily looked at our bruises and asked us if we were sure we were okay.

"Nothing some rest and cream won't fix, I guess," Honey remarked while holding a small tube of cream.

I smiled while I cooled and eased my swollen eye.

By the time we got back to the docks, it was one-thirty in the afternoon. Along the way, we had decided to stop for fast-food. A bit of a random decision, but we all agreed that we hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

Who knew McQueens was so good?

After we parked the van, we went into the warehouse and sat in the 'living room' area as we ate our food - or rather, the four of us, while Finn counted the money altogether, having decided not to buy anything for himself. Eating food in general was able to take the ease of my aching eye, and it helped me smile just a little bit whenever we started talking to each other.

It took Finn a little less than two minutes to count and divide the money along each of us. As he returned, Nick had revealed the punchline of a new joke.

"-Pregnant!"

While we didn't burst into tearful laughter, it was still pretty funny.

...Well, for them, anyways. It took me a couple of moments to understand before I laughed with the others.

Pregnant. A camel has two humps. Then there's the belly. I got it.

"Alright," Finn said as he climbed onto the table with five different strips of cash tied up. "It's $190 each. In total, we made about $950 today. Not bad, considering what little Sasha we had today."

I still felt guilty.

"Sorry, Finn," I spoke up, but he quickly waved it off.

"Don't worry 'bout it, kid. You got into enough shit already. You did good, no matter what."

I smiled. "Thanks."

We continued eating our food and talking back and forth, whether it'd be about video games, television, or even some random movie that had come out yesterday or last week or whatever was popular at the time.

But as we finished up our food, Nick asked me a question about Jackson.

"So," he started and mentioned my name. "When's that moose getting out of jail?"

It didn't take long for me to remember what the officer had told me.

"Well," I began, "it depends on if he's either convicted or what he's convicted for. If it's harassment, it might just be a few weeks or months. _BUT_ if it's battery-"

"Which it _is,_ " Lily had interrupted with a mix of an agreeing and frustrated sound to it.

"-...then he'll get up to five years prison time."

" _Up to?_ " Lily asked.

"Well, really just five years, actually."

"You're not worried about the guy getting out and trying to find you?" Nick added, but I waved it off.

"Not really. I'm sure that by the time he gets out, I'll be set, and Alexander Barkson will be a thing of the past."

I paused. With a flick of my ear, I tilted my head.

"Quick question, what would be a good idea for a fake death? I mean, it'd be the only way for him to give up on finding me if I were to, you know, fake getting murdered, suicide, accident, etcetera, etcetera..."

They looked at me with weird expressions, wondering why I was asking.

With a shrug, I added, "You know-...just in case?"

I took another sip of my soda, grabbed my wad of cash, and put it in my pocket for the moment.

They never answered, deciding to change the subject.

I'll probably go with fake suicide and leave at that. I'll make up the story when necessary.

I had plenty of time, didn't I?

* * *

After we were done eating and drinking, the rest of the day consisted of doing nothing but either lounging around or playing video games on the Bii. It was still fairly new, so we didn't have all that many games for it.

Still, Bii Sports was pretty fun.

Later in the evening, we turned on the news. After a period of time, it reported Jackson's arrest, as well as his claims and potential sentence he could face if convicted. They mentioned me briefly, saying I was gone "before we could interview him."

Honestly, that was a good thing. The least attention drawn to me, the better.

Though, I wouldn't have to worry so much about it if the issue was resolved back in _Juicy's._ Hopefully, the media forgets all about it in a couple days and I go back to being a nobody, or I might have to ditch Alexander sooner than I thought.

But - I've been wrong about the media before.

Once the news was done, we all hung out and watched something on television. I left halfway through an episode of _Dog Gone_ to go to the bathroom. Even though the building was a fairly size warehouse, it was also an abandoned apartment building, only abandoned a few years before Nick and Finn seemingly came upon it. The lights and water still worked, connected to the power-lines, but it was still dirty in some places. Even with some renovations, a couple areas in the building were still a mess.

We always promised to fix it up - yet, we never did, or at least, never did much.

When I walked into the bathroom, I went up to the sink and took out the cream one of the EMTs had given me and Honey. From what the instructions said, I had to rub a single pad's worth of cream on the area every day for three weeks. Not only would it heal it faster, it would shrink the swelling within a few days.

Pouring the contents of the tube onto one of my paw pads, I rubbed the swollen area of my eye gently. I winced from how sensitive it still was, but I braved through it. Once I was sure it was properly rubbed in, I washed my paws and dried them off with a paper towel.

With the sound of the door opening, I turned my head to see Honey walk in. We exchanged a brief 'hey' to each other. She climbed up onto the sink and also started to treat her bruises with the cream.

Before I could leave, she called out my name.

I turned back. "Yeah?"

At first, she was hesitant, like she seemed nervous, but she eventually asked if she could talk to me about something after she was done.

"Of course," I replied. "I'll be in my room when you're ready."

"Okay." Honey exchanged a brief smile, to which I also smiled back, before I left the bathroom.

As I walked through the hall, I could hear the muffled discussions of Nick, Finn, and Lily downstairs - all about the latest episode. _Dog Gone_ wasn't bad, but I definitely wasn't into it as much as those three.

It was strange seeing someone like Finnick be interested in something as light hearted as that.

Guess I've still got things to learn.

When I opened the door to my room, I was greeted with a small, semi-clean, single room. There was a couch, a bed, a dresser drawer, a desk with my laptop sitting on it - still shut - and a closet to fit some things in. Commonly, it was clothes, like shirts and pants.

But when I opened the door, there was the duffle bag, no - three duffle bags - sitting on the floor - like they always had.

I zipped the least full one open. As usual, I saw wads upon wads of money inside. I lost count months ago, but there had to have been at least half a million bucks inside this duffle bag alone. That, plus the other two _full_ bags - and I was a goddamn millionaire.

Hard to believe that just a few years ago, I was homeless, broke, and living on the streets with nothing but the clothes on my back, Today, I've got two-and-a-half million dollars in my closet.

Nearly three million dollars.

In my closet.

Even today, it's hard to let that sink in. But at the same time, I love just thinking about it.

I took the wad of cash out of my pocket and threw it into the money pile, then zipped the bag shut again and closed the closet. I walked over to my nightstand, turned on a lamp to the lowest lit setting. A quick glance at my clock showed it was only eight thirty-seven.

When I looked out the window, it was near pitch black. Had it not been for the lights of the docks and the city itself, there'd be nothing to look at.

And I never could deny the view I had. The whole of Zootopia - every skyscraper, every office building, every single essence that was the city itself, standing proudly on their own...all for me to see, every single day and every single night.

Who _could_ deny that?

After a few minutes of looking at the skyline, I turned away, went to my desk, and grabbed my laptop. I then retreated back to my bed and sat up against the wall. I opened up the computer and put in my password. Once I was in, it immediately brought me back to the last Preddit page I had been browsing the night before.

Did I ever mention I love Preddit? It was nothing but mammals bickering at each other and posting clickbait to get pawrma - but it just had something special to it, something I couldn't ever turn away from.

What could I say? I love cute ducks.

After a couple more minutes, Honey walked into the room. I closed my laptop and greeted her with a kind smile, to which she smiled back.

"You wanted to talk?" I asked her.

She nodded and took a seat on my bed. She was more used to the softness of it, but it was still funny to see her slump a little in it. Once she got properly seated, she also sat against the wall with me. She gave a little yawn.

For the first few moments, it was quiet. It was as if she was trying to come up with the right words, but couldn't figure out how. She seemed nervous.

Then again, she'd been acting a bit off since this morning. I guess that was something she wanted to mention?

"Shoot," I said to her after some seconds pass.

She gently and slowly exhaled her breath through her mouth, then turned to me.

And with that normal, but calm-like voice she held - she asked me something that I really... _really_ was not expecting.

"Can I fuck you?"

I had to do a double take. I tilted my head with an eyebrow raised as high as it could go, and I looked right at her.

"...What?"

She blushed. "You know what I said. I said, can I fuck you?"

I blinked at her a couple times. Even as she said twice, I still wasn't sure if what I was hearing was legit. Such a random question, something out of nowhere, out of thin air!

Why?

"...Why are you asking me this?"

The blush never left her face, but she seemed more calmer as she raised her paw and raised two pads.

"Two things-...

"One - I've always wanted to do it with a wolf, mostly because of the knot - duh - and I've always wanted to fuck someone before the sheep decide to strap us all into inevitable slavery."

If that was a thing - the sheep thing, of course - then that'd be a...somewhat reasonable expla-...wait, did she say 'knot?'

Before I asked, she continued.

"And two..."

She leaned her head to me, giving some kind of sign, but I never understood.

"What?"

"...Well, you like me, don't you? I mean, I figured that was likely because of the kiss at the shop today, and...like...you are _so_ much more calmer with me than everyone else..."

Well, I guess 'calmer' would be an accurate term.

"-And the way you kicked that guy's ass after he hit me today...that was fuckin' awesome, you know?"

I shrugged. Judging by my somewhat swollen eye, I wouldn't necessarily call it 'awesome.'

But it's Honey.

"I don't let strangers hit anybody I care about. That's just plain and simple."

She leaned her head again. "...Yeah, I guess that's true."

"Why exactly does all that justify you wanting to...you know, _do_ me?"

She scratched the back of her head, like she was embarrassed.

"Weeell...let's just say this isn't the only time me wanting to fuck you has come up in my mind."

"Wait - you've thought this before?"

"Kinda."

" _Kinda?_ "

"Yeah, kinda."

She sniffed and gave the back of her head another scratch.

"...And...I guess today made me realize that I'll probably never a get another shot. I mean...you know-..."

She started to chuckle - but it felt forced and more sad than happy.

And she didn't look happy, either. It looked like she was trying to keep herself calm.

"If that guy...if he killed you...I don't know what-"

"Honey."

The short honey badger looked at me with those eyes of hers. She was no longer in that calm, chill-like fashion I always see her in. It was just like this morning - nothing but worry.

She was worried.

I held her shoulders gently and faced her towards me.

"I'm not going anywhere. Just because a moose gave me a beat down today, it doesn't mean I'll be saying goodbye. Sure, these things might happen every now and again, but...trust me, anybody _killing_ me should be the last thing on your mind."

"But-"

"No _buts_ , okay? I'll be okay. Really. You'll be okay." As I said that, I gently brushed her unharmed cheek with a paw.

For a moment or two, she stared at me, seemingly unsure of what to say. She looked into one eye, then the other - again and again.

Then she asked me one question.

"Promise?"

At first, I was somewhat reluctant. What I said was true, but at the same time - what happened today was unexpected, not part of the plan at all. Anything could go wrong on any day, at any time, and I either would have no time to react or enough time to react and-...

But I wasn't wrong, either. We had been hustling for about three years, and that was the first time anything like that had gone down. And the first time it did, I fought back and only got a black eye and a couple of bruises. And that was by surprise.

I was 50/50, yes and no.

I'd take those odds any day.

"Of course. I promise."

That brought the smile to her face. I always thought it was cute when she smiled.

She looked into my eyes, gently reaching for my snout at the same time. The way her paws felt on it was always so tingly, but so warm and comfortable.

We stayed looking at each other for a few moments. It was something out of a cliché romance film - but I didn't mind, and I'm definite she didn't exactly mind much either, if the goosebumps on the skin beneath her fur were any indication.

I decided to break the silence.

"So...I'll go lock the door."

I pulled away from the bed, got up on my feet, walked over to the door, and locked both the knob and the chain.

I walked back to my bed, shut off the lamp, got right back into bed-...

And I _fucked_ Honey.

* * *

 **I know the ending of this chapter isn't exactly the best. This stuff is honestly better in my head than it is written out. Every time. Every fic. All the time. :D**

 **That's why I love writing them, though. :3**

 **The chapter wasn't meant to be so long, either. Carried away. During the time I wrote this chapter, though, I was going to make it a story about the main character fall in love with Judy and get the bunny bun. Then I decided not to do that, as I'm sure people won't exactly approve of that. Then I figured, Honey hasn't appeared in that many fics (at least, not from what I've read so far). So now she's the replacement for the main character's interest.**

 **As I said at the beginning of this chapter, she's ret-conned in design, age, and some personality. However, she's still a conspiracy nut. That particular part of her will change in later chapters, when civilization starts coming apart. The next chapter officially starts the story in the present day, set at the beginning of the film, with many of the scenes similar to the movie, but Night Howlers are not the cause.**

 **I hope you liked my first attempt for a Zootopia fic. If you didn't, I'll be better, don't hit me. :c**


	3. Chapter 3: 'Zootopia'

**Third chapter. This officially kicks off the story by including parts of the main character's POV, and will also show Judy Hopps' departure from Bunny Burrow and entrance into Zootopia. The few days before Judy leaves for the city, that is when the clock starts to count down. The upcoming chapters will cover a period of up to three weeks.**

 **Hopefully, the last chapter wasn't shit. In the meantime, I'm gonna try and cut back on these author's notes, just in case people don't like seeing them. :)**

 **Enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: 'Zootopia'**

After that night - Honey and I had become a thing, an item.

For a while, for a few good months, we made it work. We never showed any _loving_ affection for each other in public, but once we were back home, there was always time for a cute cuddle.

At night, even more.

...

It didn't last. Honey broke it off just five months in. She wanted to keep making it work. I wanted to keep making it work. And when I said that, she asked me just one question:

"How can we be together if the world wants us apart?"

Sure, there were mammals who approved of interspecial relationships - but that kind of belief was few and far between in the world. In Zootopia, it was hardly a common thing, much less a common subject to discuss. In the world, it was believed that only mammals of the same species could be together, rather than mammals of difference. Even if two different mammals share similar interests or beliefs, having them together was illogical and - biologically - _sinful_.

Honey didn't believe it, and neither did I.

But the poor girl said she was only looking out for me. I believed her. Ever since what happened with Jackson, not only had she been acting different - in ways - but she was always unsure if I should do any kind of business alone. While we were together, every gig we did was together. Sometimes, Lily had some kind of involvement. We always dressed up and changed everything about us to be sure that nobody believed we were the same mammals. Usually, whenever one of us had done a gig 'alone', the other would usually pretend to be a bystander or a customer.

Nobody ever thought anything of it.

But even then, that wasn't enough to convince Honey that we could remain together.

"One day, maybe things will change. Maybe they'll change and see."

One day, she said.

One day.

...

Three years had passed since she said that, since we broke it off.

Even today, it still hurt, but I mostly got over it. That feeling whenever she would hold onto my snout, cuddle me, tell me she loved me. That feeling of her fur against mine...

I miss that.

Maybe one day, we can...

...Yeah.

It'd been six years since I first joined up with the three of them, five since I met Lily.

She turned 31 today.

It was crazy. To think, when I met her, I was still a rookie in the hustling business, and Lily - 26 then - knew next to nothing about how to do things around here. Nick allowed me to show the otter the ropes, to learn how to make it well and not get caught while she was at it.

Five years later, she's celebrating her 31st birthday with cake, ice cream, and two million dollars in her room.

What could be better than that?

* * *

 **211 Miles Away, Bunnyburrow**

"-ZPDs very first _rabbit_ officer - Judy Hopps!" said Mayor Lionheart as he looked on at the row of police graduates.

The mammals in front of him trained, worked, fought, and strained themselves for six long, hard months. Today, they would become members of the Zootopia Police Force.

Including Judy Hopps.

Unlike all known police officers in Zootopia and other cities - Judy was to be the very first _rabbit_ to be given the honor of 'making the world a better place.'

The young, but proud rabbit walked her way up to the stage, in front of her fellow officers, her friends - her family, her mother and father tearing up and smiling, proud of her, proud of what she had accomplished.

She was proud of herself too.

"I am assigning you to the heart of Zootopia - Precinct One, City Center."

Judy tried not to lose herself in her feelings. She stood tall and proud as they gave her her badge and her nameplate. The assistant mayor, Dawn Bellwether, congratulated the bunny personally.

"It's a good day for us little guys."

Lionheart 'gently' pushed Dawn out of the way and stood up next to Hopps. The two took a look at the camera pointed at them.

"Smile!"

With a flash, an entire day had gone by for Judy. Celebrations, partying, fun and games were all about at the Hopps farmstead. And the whole time, she could think of nothing but what she had done. So many mammals, so many years ago, none of them believed she would ever be what she dreamed - today, they cheered her on; they couldn't be more proud of her.

Her parents couldn't be more proud of her.

And, stupidly, a part of her even believed that possibly...well, maybe Gideon Gray was proud of her too. It'd been years since she last saw him, and the last time she did...

Just the memory of it - she held the part of her face where he...

...With those _claws_.

 _Maybe he's changed,_ a part of her believes.

 _Maybe he's still the ignorant jerk he was then,_ another part says.

Every once in a while, if Gideon ever came across her mind, she would tell herself those two same things, and never be sure which one to believe more. Sure, it'd been 15 years since then - but she knew mammals - mammals that _never_ changed.

Their body changed - their mind didn't.

She might visit him one day.

Maybe.

After the night had come and gone, Judy was packed and set to leave. When she arrived at the train station, her family was right there, waiting for her. Every brother and sister she ever had. Even her favorite - Jenny. It wasn't to say that the others weren't her favorites...but there was something about Jenny that made her want to be the best big sister she ever could to her.

In the end, it paid off. There she was, right next to her mother and father, smiling and fighting the urge to run up and hug her big sis.

She was always so adorable.

For a few minutes, Judy had exchanged words with her parents. At some point, foxes got into the subject, about how they were nothing but 'the worst.'

Then came the care package. Fox deterrent, fox repellent, fox ta-...

 **ZAP!**

Whoa, why would she need a fox taser?!

Regardless of what they gave to her, she only decided to take the repellent, "To make you stop talking."

Soon enough, the train had arrived and stopped at the station. The doors opened, and passengers came flowing out of all different sizes and shapes. Some were texting on their phones, others were reading books or looking at a map. Or maybe they were simply having a conversation back and forth.

Hopps was well aware that she'd be seeing this every single day soon enough.

She grabbed her luggage and started boarding the train. But that one part of her made her stop in the doorway. She hesitated for a moment, not of regret or other things.

It was forgetfulness.

She put her things down and ran back to her parents. She held them warmly in a hug.

"I love you guys."

And they stayed that way for a few moments. Who knew how long it'd be before they'd meet again?

When they parted, she didn't go right back. She knelt down on one knee, right beside her mother and father - and looked at Jenny. Her baby sister seemed so proud of her too.

That little smile of hers never faded away.

"You look after mom and dad, okay?" she asked as she gently held onto Jenny's shoulders.

The young sister beamed at her, nodding.

"Okay."

She wouldn't let it go that easily.

"Pinky swear?" Judy held up her pinky pad to Jenny with a little smirk.

Her sister giggled and held up her own pad, pressing it against Judy's.

"Pinky swear."

They both grinned back at each other as they embraced one another in a warming hug. Jenny leaned into Judy's shoulder and held her tighter.

"I don't want you to go," she said.

Judy rubbed her back. "I know. I don't wanna leave you, either."

They stayed that way for another few moments.

"But think about it - I can make the world safer. For you, for mom and dad-...for everyone.

"That'll be good, won't it?"

She felt her sister nod in her shoulder.

The station's intercom played. "Final call for Zootopia."

"Ooh, gotta go," Judy said as she pulled away. As she did so, she kissed her sister on the forehead.

"Promise me you'll take care of them?"

Jenny nodded with her own request. "Promise you'll come visit?"

Judy nodded back with a grin.

She parted from her little sister and ran back to the train. Through the doorway, she picked up her luggage, just in time for the door to shut behind her only moments later. As she turned back to the door window, she watched as her family all waved her goodbye - her father crying next to her mother.

"I love you!" her sister shouted as she waved along.

The rabbit waved back to all of her siblings, all of them wishing her good luck, happy travels, to be safe-...

The train began to move forward, and as it did, her brothers and sisters began to move forward with it, faster and faster, until the train was faster than them, and they disappeared from sight. She still looked back through that window, hoping she would see one more glance at them.

But the train was too far gone, and before she knew it, the train had already left her home. The sign that promoted the land of Bunnyburrow passed her by, the numbers of residents ticking up with every second, until that too was far gone.

She was really alone for the first time in her life. And she wondered if she loved it.

Of course she did.

 _Make the world a better place._

Always her motto. It always would - even if her family wasn't by her side all the time.

This was her time now. This was her time to really make the difference she dreamed.

It started today.

Two hours later, after watching mountains and plains and rivers and lakes go by in a blink - there it was, shining and glistening in the day sky, just as she had dreamt it would.

The great city of Zootopia - where anyone can be anything.

She always believed that.

When the train pulled into Grand Central Station, she - luggage in her paws, a grain on her face, and an urge to bounce up and down like a child - ran out the doors as they opened, and was immediately mesmerized by the complete diversity of everything, of everyone. Tigers, Giraffes, Hippos, Rats, Lemmings, Dogs and Wolves-...

The list went on and on and on, and kept going on as she walked through the place and saw everything as it truly was. Mammals were going to work, slurping down smoothies, relaxing on a bench or enjoying a meal. The station itself was a bustling mass of residents, up and down, left and right, tall and short.

But when she skipped her way out of that building, she took in even more of the vastness that was the city itself. The buildings soared into the sky, tall as could be. The mammals walked in all directions around her.

And all she could do was stand there, smile, and really appreciate it.

As she looked up at one of the tall, closer buildings, there stood a giant electronic billboard, almost as tall as the building itself. And as she stared at it, there was the image of the most famous mammal in all of Zootopia. And with that strong voice, she spoke to the masses.

"I'm Gazelle. Welcome to Zootopia."

If she truly wanted to, Judy would find herself back at this same spot, every single day, just to hear her say those words, over and over again, and every time, she would still be amazed and giddy whenever she'd see it.

But today, she didn't have that luxury for the moment.

For an hour, the young bunny found herself wandering the downtown area of the city. Tall, small, slim, and wide buildings surrounded her at every corner. An assortment of shops, restaurants, offices, hotels, apartments - whatever she could possibly think of, Zootopia had it all.

She wished, she really wished, that she could take one of the big, beautiful apartments she had always seen in the advertisements and in the papers. But she hardly had any money, a few belongings, and the clothes on her back.

If she wanted to get there, she had to start small.

And that meant buying one of the cheapest, smallest apartments she was able to afford.

It didn't take long to get to it, just a few blocks from the station. She merely wanted to get a good look of Zootopia for the very first time, in person.

When she arrived at her building, she was escorted to her apartment by the owner of the building - an old, but sweet looking armadillo named Martha. When they reached the apartment and opened it up, she was greeted with a small, but workable single room with everything she could need - a desk, a microwave, and a bed. There was even a door that led to her own little bathroom, as well as its own shower.

When Martha had given Judy her key, she instructed her, very clearly, " _Don't_ lose your key."

Just moments later, she met her neighbors as they walked by.

At first glance, she assumed them to be an average gay couple.

Nope. They were brothers.

It's a good thing she never had the intention to tell them that.

The rest of the day went off without a single hitch. She took a walk around the neighborhood, had a decent meal, went home and listened to the radio before showering off and going to bed.

Come five-thirty in the morning, she wakes up, shows off in her new uniform - of course, to herself - and heads out the door. With enough time to kill, she calmly strolled herself along. When she first left, the city was only beginning to wake itself up, mammals few and far between. By the end of her walk, cars filled the roads, and the mammals filled the sidewalks.

As she walked on, she passed by an average-sized dog who had been listening to the radio with what appeared to be his friend. She stopped for a moment to listen in.

"-And in other news, you better hope you've gotten your flu shot. There's been news going about of a possible _flu_ outbreak. Reports are coming in from a few nearby towns of mammals getting sick from what they're calling a _strange_ virus. So, if you're not feeling well, head on home, sit on the couch, drink some soup, and watch some TV. At least, that's what I do when _I_ get sick."

Another radio host, female, remarked, "That's _definitely_ what he does, you guys."

The two laugh it off for a few moments. With a few chuckles, the first host continues.

"But to be serious, everybody, if you're feeling sick, go home and take care of yourself. Don't get your fellow workers sick, now."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

Another exchange of brief chuckles before they go back to discussing previous topics or the upcoming song, but Hopps didn't stay to listen. She continued on her walk. Several passersby also seemed to be enjoying the view or the cool air - or perhaps just things in general.

Soon enough, Judy stopped in front of her destination and paused. She got a good view of the building in front of her, in all its glory - The Zootopia Police Department.

She entered the building and met the officer at the front desk. Benjamin Clawhauser was his name - a cute-ish looking cheetah with a liking for donuts. Hopps saw him as _slightly_ strange, but overall, he was generally nice. He pointed her to where she needed to be, thanked him, and she was on her way.

"That little bunny's gonna get eaten alive."

She heard it. She didn't scoff.

But she _would_ prove him wrong. She knew that.

Later after that, Judy, out of all of the officers in that room, would be the only one assigned parking duty by her leader, Chief Marcus Bogo, highest in command at the ZPD. She didn't argue, but she had to point out that she wasn't "some token bunny."

But as he said - he didn't care.

One-hundred parking tickets before noon, he requested.

She would spend the rest of that morning doing _two-_ hundred instead - including her own car.

Of course.

And that was when she met Nick. The first moment she saw him, he seemed...shifty, to say the least. He looked as if he was sneaking about, into this one ice-cream shop. She snuck right behind him.

When she entered, the owner was definitely having some sort of small scuffle with him - and the repellent was at the ready.

Then she saw his kid, and immediately felt bad. She heard that they only wanted a Jumbo Pop - one of the largest popsicles this side of the country. However, no matter what, the owner refused to serve neither the father or the kid.

And at some point, it turned into an argument between her and the owner himself.

When she mentioned the ungloved trunks, the health-code violations, and the warnings - she knew he had no choice but to give it to them. She ended up paying out of her own pocket, but it didn't matter to her. She was willing to help a troubled dad out to make his kid happy.

And that was enough to make her happy too.

...

Well, until she found out that the father wasn't actually a father - and that the kid was actually a man in his...what, forties?

She followed the duo around for a few hours, all across different parts of the city, from Savannah Central, to Sahara Square, to Tundratown. They must've gone to every part of Zootopia.

All that trouble just to make some small looking popsicles. They were named 'Pawpsicles', if the signs were any indication. Popsicles shaped like their paws, frozen from the cold, and sold to a bunch of parched little lemmings for what seemed to be a few bucks each.

When the two had departed, she confronted Nick.

And she tried, really tried, to tackle his own counter-arguments. But he had the documents, letters, parchments, whatever it was, for everything she argued against. She followed him for several minutes, and he would just keep on going, keep on talking.

But nonetheless - he was able to beat her at her game.

"Sly fox - dumb bunny."

"I'm _not_ a dumb bunny," she remarked with a stern look.

"Right...and _that's_ not wet cement."

She looked down, noticing that she was ankles deep in wet, freshly placed cement.

And the red fox just walked on by her.

"You'll never be a real cop."

Farther away, he continued to yell to her.

"You're a cute meter-maid though! Maybe even a supervisor one day! Hang in there!"

And like that, Nick was gone.

She didn't chase him anymore. She hopped up out of the cement, drove the car back to the ZPD, and took the train on home. When she entered her darkly lit apartment, she had this... _feeling_ of...

Well...she didn't know what feeling it _was_. Depression? Emptiness?

Whatever the feeling had been, she wasn't as joyful in the evening as she was in the morning - she was all spry and happy and excited...but now, right now, that was all gone.

And the poorly timed songs on the radio weren't helping.

After her dinner had dried and shriveled up like a grape - she was out of options. Nothing to do, and all that the radio had been playing was nothing but sad, calm music.

Soon enough, she had decided that...maybe it was time to give her parents a call, maybe update them on how things were going.

Pulling out her phone, she looked over her contacts and saw her mom's number. She pressed it and selected 'video call'. The phone rang a few times before her mother picked up. Her face was in full view, seemingly excited to see her. At one point, even her father had joined in on the call. They started asking her about how the day was going, how the city was, how nice everybody was.

And, of course - she lied. It wasn't that she _wanted_ to lie. The last thing she wanted was to lie to her family.

But she also didn't want them to see her as a failure, or that the real thing was truly too much.

So she lied, and they believed her. At first, nothing seemed all too bad.

Then they noticed her meter-maid outfit, and they began praising God, thanking him that "she's not a real cop."

A part of her wanted to hang up there and then. How could they say that? In front of their own daughter? The daughter who had been dreaming of this for fifteen years?

She stopped their celebration.

"You know what, it's really late. I should get some sleep."

"Of course, you rest up now, bun-bun," her mom said.

Her dad, however, butted in, "Those meters aren't gonna maid themselves!"

She wanted to roll her eyes, but didn't want to risk upsetting her dad. They started to say their goodbyes - but before they were able to hang up, Judy stopped them.

"Wait, wait. Do you think...I could talk to Jenny for a little bit? You know, just to see her?"

Her mother shook her head slightly in a somewhat upset manner.

"Jenny's sleeping right now, hon. Tsk, poor girl's been feeling sick lately."

Sick?

"What _kind_ of sick?" she asked, remembering that radio news from earlier in the morning.

"Oh, it's that flu that's been going around lately, the one they've been reporting in the news in the past couple days?"

Her father added in, "Ugh, it's all over the place. They're saying a lot of the towns have got it the worst, mammals coughing and sneezing all over the place - it's a mess!"

"A lot of your brothers and sisters have got it too!"

Hopps was a little bit concerned. Why had she only _now_ found out about this?

"Are they gonna be okay?"

Her mother smiled and laughed it off. "What do you mean? They're gonna be fine, bun-bun. They're saying it's not that bad, just a common flu. It'll pass over, trust me."

The father also gave a chuckle.

"Guess you got lucky too! From what they're saying, Zootopia's got the least amount of mammals getting sick! So you'll be just fine."

Judy gave off a smile. "Yeah - I hope."

With a happy-like sigh, her piped back up.

"Well, it's late. You really should get some sleep, honey. Another big day tomorrow, right?"

Judy slightly scrunched up her mouth into a small smile, and nodded her head.

"Yep. Maiding meters and...all that."

"Well, alright. Sleep well, okay? I love you, bun-bun."

Her mom and dad waved her goodnight, even blew her kisses.

"I love you guys too," she remarked, blowing her own kiss. "Good night."

With a press of a button, she ended the video chat and put her phone on her desk. For a moment, she stared at the wall, lost in brief thought. One part of her was glad that her parents cared about her, about her wellbeing. They seemed somewhat happy for her.

At the same time, they were happy for the wrong reasons.

She spent her whole life wanting to be a cop, to help others when they needed it, to do good in life.

She wanted to make the world a better place.

And her parents were glad that-...that she wasn't doing... _any_ of that.

"She's not a real cop!"

That thought hung in her mind for a moment.

They were _happy_ that she wasn't making the world a better place. Or, at least, that's what it sounded like.

She wanted to be upset, frustrated - hell, maybe even angry at her parents for thinking that, making her believe that _they_ believed.

But at the same time-...she couldn't. They were her parents. How could she be mad at them?

And that flu, that sudden flu...Yesterday, she didn't even know that it was a thing or a common issue, and suddenly - it's all over the news, the internet, in several towns, several cities. And now some of her family's got it, all of a sudden?

Even Jenny?

"Hey rabbit!" her neighbor Bucky yelled through the wall. "Turn off that depressing music!"

Even as she did that, he and his brother argued back and forth about it for a moment or two, and all that she could do was promise herself-...

"Tomorrow's another day."

"Yeah, but it might be worse!"

And with what went on today and what she found out, they could very well be right about that.

That same night, the poor rabbit didn't sleep well. She laid in her bed, staring at the ceiling, with nothing but her stuffed animals to keep her company. Her mind was flooded with a plethora of thoughts, maybe even regrets. Of what she regretted, not even she knew.

Maybe it was leaving her family behind, maybe it was...leaving Jenny behind, or...

Well...she didn't know. It could've been anything.

All she could hope was that things got better.

But they didn't. In the morning, she woke up tired, exhausted. But she just went on about her day, on with the parking duty. Everything was the same, but her job suddenly felt less satisfying, less happy than it was yesterday. And the mammals calling her out or using typical sarcasm on her did her no favors.

The morning lingered on slowly, achingly slow - it was making Hopps actually lose confidence in herself, and the fact that nobody enjoyed what she did...the fact that _she_ didn't enjoy what she did...

Was she cut out to be a real cop, or forced to just put tickets on cars all day long until somebody appreciated her work?

She asked herself this question all morning.

But it wasn't until she came across a weasel named Duke that she decided to ignore the question. She chased him several blocks through the city, even through Little Rodentia. Even as little rats panicked and ran along in circles, even as he tried to demolish their entire homes just to stop her, she kept on going.

Eventually, she was able to bring justice to the thief, even resorting to bringing him to the ZPD, trapped in a giant donut.

But even then, even after that effort to jail even one more criminal in the world - Bogo was not pleased, not even a little. Even as she tried to explain her true job, Marcus instead explained her _actual_ job.

And even as Octavia Otterton walked into Bogo's room, begged for help - even just a little bit of help - to find her husband.

"Please...! There's gotta be someone to find my Emmitt!"

She had been begging for ten straight days, the same thing over and over again. At least, that's what Judy had overheard.

Hopps agreed to take the case - and like everything else, the moment Octavia stepped out the door, Marcus was insistent on firing the rabbit, kicking her out, and easing his own mind of her 'insubordinative tendencies'.

But due to Dawn Bellwether being there at the right time - he gave her another chance.

48 hours worth of a chance to redeem herself and find a loving father, reunite him with his family, truly be a cop.

But - on the condition...if she failed, she resigned and went back home.

What other choice did she have?

She took the deal, took the case, took the chance to really prove herself.

And once she had a proper lead - she knew just who to look to.

Wilde.

* * *

 **20 HOURS AGO**

Today's gig was, more or less, a bit on the casual side of things. Sure, we had the customers, the resources, and the measures we always took - but things seemed much more...chill, as a way of putting it lightly.

We weren't as spunky or spry as every other day.

Well, _I_ wasn't, at least. Honey had been in her usual go-to mood, but today was just one of the worst days to really cash in.

Maybe it was the emptiness of the place, or the amount of time it took to _get_ everything that we needed.

Though, it could've also been the fact that I was wearing a jacket in Sahara Square.

I wore it with the idea that we were doing our business in Tundratown. Instead, Nick and Finn had decided to change it at the last minute while they were busy melting that giant-as-all-hell Jumbo Pop.

Jeez, I'd been living here for six years, and I never even saw a Jumbo Pop until today. I always thought they were like a popsicle, but...you know, _slightly_ larger - not the size of an elephant's head.

Regardless, as they did so, they considered having us put up shop here. I did complain about that, mainly because of the heat, but they did mention raising prices because of said heat.

Still, I wish we could've done it in Tundratown.

After we froze the Pawpsicles there, they returned us to Sahara Square, and we were pretty quick in setting things up. It was only a matter of time before they were just a huge staining heap of sticky juice.

Luckily, setting up our shop didn't take as long as we thought, and we were able to sell a Pawpsicle for ten bucks each. There were a few complaints from some of the customers about it, but generally, the great number of them were fine with it.

As long as they could cool themselves down somehow at this temperature, they didn't care if it was fifty dollars.

But - we decided against that, no matter how tempting it was.

By four o'clock, we were done and paid well. We called Finnick, told him we were done, and we waited.

Though, that wait was spent _inside_.

In a cool shop.

 _Cool_ cool.

After twenty or so minutes, the van pulled up where our stand had been. We left the shop, whistled to him, and started putting our things inside the van. Lily, having already been picked up, helped us out with our things and making sure everything was in.

Once that was done and we shut the back doors, I noticed that Nick wasn't there.

"Where's Nick?" I asked.

"Walking home this time."

"Why?" Honey asked him. "What'd he do?"

Finn pointed to his forehead. When it came to that, it didn't take long for us to know what he was getting at.

"Pfft, again?" I asked him as I hopped into the passenger seat of the van and shut the door. "Surprised you haven't chewed him out yet."

"Hmph," he mumbled quietly. "I'll be doing some chewing, alright."

"I'd pay to see that," Lily remarked.

I gave out a little chuckle as Finn started driving forward. Along the way, I asked Finn how his and Nick's day was.

"Not too bad," he started. "Though, at first, we got into a bit of a hassle."

"As in...?"

"The guy was being stubborn. Wouldn't serve us, stereotyped us, and even tried to kick us out."

Finn gave out a little chuckle as he continued. "Heh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was that Jackson guy in an elephant costume."

I lifted my head from its resting position on my paw at the sound of that particular name.

"Jackson..."

That brought some memories back. None of them good - but kind of funny, in a strange way.

"Fuck...I haven't thought of him in years, at least not since what happened at _Juicy's_. I wonder how he's doing?"

Finn added, "Well, last I heard, he's still doing time."

"Think he's still mad at me? Well, rather, _Alexander_?"

Lily joined in on the chat.

"Well, _Alexander_ did manage to shut down his business - so I'd say he's probably still pissed."

Another chuckle from Finn, he remarked, "I guess we'll find out in two years."

"Hmph, hopefully I'll be," I paused briefly as I raised my paws in quotes, " _dead_ by then."

The young fennec turned to me in slight disbelief. "You really gonna go with that route? Faking your death?"

"Well, it's either that or I pretend to move out of the country. I mean, sure, the latter would work, but what'd be the chances he'd find me skulking around after I supposedly _moved back_ to Kingdom Island or something?"

"That's what the fake IDs are for, right?"

I leaned my head towards the window. "Well, yeah, but...I don't know, if he found out I was still pulling the same little gimmicks that got his stupid shop shut down, what if...you know, tried to-"

"He wouldn't."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked towards him.

"Finn," I started, "he beat the shit out of me, gave me a black eye. I thought he even broke a couple ribs - thankfully, he didn't, but he tried to really hurt me because of it. Not to mention, he hurt Honey!"

I finished that sentence as I pointed to Honey, watching us semi-argue about the moose. She never said anything, just looked at me as I looked at her briefly.

At first, Finn said nothing, but soon enough, he spoke again.

"Trust me...if he really was _that_ crazy, he'd have been in jail years ago. And I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be getting out for a while."

I hesitated. I looked to him, then looked forward, out the windshield and into the streets. I tried to think of my own response, but I could only get out some words.

"We-...I-I guess, but..."

Even then, I couldn't figure out what to say.

"Look-...kid. Don't worry about Jackson. He'll be in there for a little while longer. For right now, just take a deep breath, relax...don't get so tense. There's a million foxes in Zootopia who look just like _you_. He could walk up to any of them and do the same stupid thing."

He...had a bit of a point.

He stopped talking for a moment, focusing momentarily on his driving, before continuing on.

"If I had to guess how he knew it was you that day, it was what you said. The two of you," referring to Honey and I, "were both together, selling something with Sasha in it. Just a couple hours before that, he met similar looking mammals who were also happening to be looking for Sasha. Then he put two and two together."

"You both haven't done that many gigs together in the past couple years. I'd say there's a low chance he'd recognize you, even if you were together. And with five years gonna come and go-...that makes it even harder for him to realize."

That was another point. I did get a bit taller, my voice got somewhat deeper, and some of my fur even grayed a little - not from age, just general body change.

Honey looked more or less the same, but taller by a few inches.

Would that moose recognize us after all this time?

Would we even recognize _him_?

Finn spoke again.

"So just relax...okay?"

I was. I did feel a bit more relaxed than before. Even then, I still felt somewhat worried. Even if Jackson was still two years away, I always dreaded the day he would get out. I knew he likely had more of a grudge against interspecials than hustlers, but-...

But I still felt that I might've really fucked it up.

Nonetheless...

"Okay."

Finn was right. Even when I lied, he was still right.

I had plenty of time to think things over.

* * *

We got back to the docks within about fifteen minutes. Once we parked the van, we got out and put our things in the storage room, before heading to the living room area.

I immediately fell on the couch and let out a yawn, stretching out as far as I could go before curling up in a tired ball.

"Guess that heat took a lot out of you, didn't it?" Finn remarked with a slight smirk on his face.

I mumbled slightly, but spoke enough for him to understand.

"Tomorrow, I'm gonna do Tundratown. I suppose you don't have a problem with that after today?"

He shook his head. "Not at all."

When he walked into the kitchen, he added, "It was Nick's idea, anyway."

Sly fox.

More like a sly dick.

"Then he's doing Sahara tomorrow!" I yelled to him from the living room.

"No problem with that!"

I gave out a gentle laugh as I straightened myself on the couch. For a minute, I sat there, trying to compose myself, maybe catch my breath a little. Lily had gone to shower, and Honey was most likely in her little 'bunker'.

Well...it _was_ a bunker, but nonetheless, she was definitely doing something down there. I'm guessing she was processing those pictures she took of those two sheep earlier today. I always wondered, "Why sheep?"

What made it so bad that she always thought, "Hey, one day, the sheep are going to take over the world and put us all into slavery!"?

My guess was some kind of childhood experience gone bad. Maybe she had a friend who betrayed her-...or for all I knew, she had a family member who died at the hands of a sheep.

I mean...sure, it'd be awful, but...that'd be too predictable.

I'd have to ask her sometime.

For the moment, I decided to simply relax - just like Finnick said.

I reached for the remote, held it in my paws, aimed it towards the television, and turned it on. For a good hour or more, I flicked through different channels. Many of them were the typical 'modern comedy' that wasn't really a comedy, just nothing but slapstick humor and constant laugh tracks over every word they said.

And yet, shows like 'Two and a Half Bears' were _televisions #1 comedy!_

And I'd scoff every time.

Eventually, I just settled for the news. I hardly liked the news, but it was always interesting to see what was going on in the world.

For a while, they talked about more local things, like today's soccer game, or the newest potential celebrity - typical media nonsense. But once they got into the world-wide side of things, then I started getting less bored.

The segments usually consisted of talking about Zootopia's president - that'd be the _country's_ president, of course - discussing diplomatic relations with Yakistan's leader, or how the stock market did better or worse than yesterday or last week, or about the constant wars going on in the east, the same ones that had been happening for years and "how there's no end in sight for the violence."

In a not-trying-to-be-rude manner, wouldn't that be a good thing for networks like ZNN?

Regardless, these segments would go on for several minutes, before they switched to the next one or went to commercial.

However, it wasn't the wars or the stocks or even the president that piqued my interest.

It was the last segment of the hour.

"And in other news, it's been labelled as _The Microscopic Boogeyman._ Experts at the Disease Center in Buffalo City have been unable to confirm the origin of a mysterious virus that has broken out in remote areas across the country over the past few days."

Now, _this_ should be interesting.

"A number of reports have claimed that the virus originated in multiple locations, many of those areas being farms, commonly in the crops. Other reports claim that the disease had been first reported in South Zootopia. It may never be known _where_ exactly this virus had suddenly appeared - and while experts are saying for the moment that there is nothing to fear, they sit in worry.

"Dr. Madge Badger, working at the Zootopia Center of Medical Sciences, has studied the virus since its discovery just a couple days ago."

Footage of an interview of the supposed Dr. Madge - which, oddly enough, looked a lot like Honey, though clear enough of a difference - played on the screen, having been recorded only a few hours ago.

"The common aspect," she begins, "about most viruses today, commonly the typical flu viruses - is that they are highly mutable. They can be perfectly harmless one day, mutate, then become a deadly assassin the next day.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that _this_ particular virus could become deadly. For the moment, it gives people chills and coughs, but that's it. But then it could mutate, and now they've got diarrhea or migraines.

"And, of course - despite it _scaring_ others - it could also mutate and start to kill its hosts. Again, we don't know. Mutations, though highly frequent and predictable, are - at the same time - difficult to predict _what_ mutation it could be."

The reporter in the recording asked her, "Do you believe it could mutate again soon?"

For a second, Madge hesitated, as if unsure what to say next; but soon enough, she answered his question.

"Well, we're very certain it will mutate again. The real question is 'when' and 'how'. Could it mutate to become more infectious, more contagious? Could it mutate to become deadlier? Or could it mutate and end up being completely harmless? For the moment, we don't know much. However, we _will_ continue too monitor it to the best of our abilities, and we will be sure to _keep_ the public informed if anything else occurs."

The recording of the interview ended after that, going back to the current reporter. He continued to speak.

"Dr. Madge has also stated, that if you or others begin to feel sick, head home immediately - be sure to lower the risk of spreading the sickness to others. The DC has also put up a current up-to-date list of symptoms that could indicate that you could be sick. It's up on our website, be sure to check it out, for your safety - and for others.

"Until then, this is Peter Moosebridge bidding Zootopia farewell until tomorrow. Have a good night."

And like that, the news hour was over. What came afterwards was an action-packed horror show, but I dismissed it and turned down the volume, not wanting to hear explosions and cheesy poor acting. The overly-flashing screen got to the point where I turned the television off altogether and just slouched down on the couch.

It was bad enough that I had to sit out in the _desert_ sun for several hours and sell half-melted Pawpsicles with the risk of heat stroke - now we had a flu going around?

And according to those doctors, not just a flu - a flu with the risk of mutating into something bad?

Then again, the news always over-exaggerated things that weren't as serious as they 'proclaimed'. There was a drought in Paws Angeles a few years back - 2008, I think, and it wasn't even that bad, either - and the news jumped all over it, acting like it was the end of times, like the city was going to burn to the ground and all of its citizens were going to start killing each other for food and water.

Then literally a few months later, the problem was resolved and it was business as usual.

Then about a year after _that_ , during flu season, mammals on Preddit were posting news articles about the Pig Flu that went around during the 2010-2011 season. The moment other mammals started getting sick, users were shouting and spamming, "The end is nigh! Repent to God!"

Blah, blah, blah - five years later, and we were still here, and so were they - posting 'apocalypse this' and 'conspiracy bullshit' that.

I bet this flu was getting the same exact treatment as every other one before it.

It'll get old - but, I had to admit - it was fun to watch idiots embarrass themselves about it.

But...at the same time, they were also getting to me. It was clear that one day, they'd finally be right, rub it in our faces, and-...

I stopped my whole goddamn train of thought right there.

I was putting _way_ too much thought into this.

"I need a drink." I said it to myself, out loud, to nobody else.

Well, unless Honey was listening in on me again or something. Sheep things.

I walked into the kitchen, through the doorway. As I did, I happened to see Finnick sitting at the table, drinking what must've been coffee.

Or was it whiskey _in_ a coffee cup? It was always back and forth with him and that.

As I opened up the fridge and took out one of the few sodas left, Finn looked towards me from the newspaper he had been reading. For a second, he said nothing, but when he did-...

"Thought you were Nick for a second."

With a sip, I turned to him, eyebrow raised. When I swallowed my bit of soda, I remarked:

"Didn't know I was red." I chuckled briefly. He laughed a bit too.

Our ears both perked up at the sound of the door opening up in the other room.

"Speak of the devil," I mumbled to myself.

What was the chance that would ever happen?

"Hello?" I heard the fox call from the lobby - well, lobby/living room mix.

"In here!" I hollered to him.

I heard the small, slow 'step-step' of his paws on the floor, then the carpet, then on the floor again - closer, this time - until he was standing in the doorway, wearing his seemingly signature green Swaylili shirt and tie. Ever since he got it two years ago, he'd worn it so many times in a single month.

It was the reason I started using the Alex fursona more often and openly.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

Speaking of long, what time was it, exactly? As he started talking, I briefly checked my phone to see that it was only a few minutes past seven. A lot later than I thought, jeez.

"Well, I _would've_ gotten here sooner, but I got into a bit of an argument."

I tilted my head. "With...?"

I took another sip of my drink as he turned to Finnick.

"You remember that bunny cop that thought you were the cutest little thing ever?"

The small fennec snapped back. "You remember when I wasn't?" Then he immediately was the calmest as he could be. "But yeah, I do. What about?"

It was always interesting to see how he could go from looking like he's about to bite Nick's face of to-...

Wait.

"Wait," I stopped them both. "Did you say _bunny_ cop?"

Nick turned back to me with an interested smile. "Yep. Officer Hopps, first rabbit cop in the world."

He gave a smug little chuckle as he added, "-Or should I say, 'first rabbit _meter-maid_ '?"

Why did that sound familiar?

Oh. Oh!

"You're talking about _Judy_ Hopps, right? Of the Bunnyburrow Hopps? Valedictorian of her ZPA class, that's the Officer Hopps you're talking about, right?"

Nick and Finnick looked at each other, somewhat bewildered - maybe a bit shocked? Maybe even a little uptight, at least...that's what it seemed like.

The red fox turned to me, holding up a single paw.

"Wait, wait. You're saying you _know_ this rabbit?"

"Well...if it's the same one we're both talking about, then yeah. I know her."

With a questioning shrug, he asked how I did, how I could.

"Her and I used to go to high school together," I mentioned as I pointed both of my paws towards myself.

Nick tilted his head, somewhat in a mix of disbelief and surprise.

Finnick, however, wasn't.

"Sure you did," he said, almost in a sarcastic manner.

"No, it's true! We met during our Junior year and really hit it off. She always was talking about how she wanted to 'make the world a better place'-"

That seemed to get Nick's attention.

"So _that's_ where you got that catchphrase?"

"Yeah. She said that all the time, whenever she could. Everything that she could talk about, it always even pointed to wanting to be a police officer. It was her favorite thing to talk about, nonstop."

A click came to my head.

"Hold on," I added, "I think I've still got a picture of her from our, uh-...Senior graduation."

As I take out my wallet and start digging through it, Nick asks me:

"Who keeps a picture of someone from high school in their wallet?"

Guiltily, I looked at him.

"I was a bit too poor to buy a yearbook. Ah!"

I grabbed the picture and showed it to him.

"She look familiar?"

Nick took only a few seconds worth to look at the picture before snapping his pads together.

"That's the one," he says.

"Really?" I said, my eyes slightly lit up in hopeful excitement.

I grinned when he nodded, and that grin did not leave my face for a bit. I put my soda on the counter and held the picture in both paws and looked down at it. It was a photo of Judy and I standing together, arms around each other's shoulders, smiling at the camera as the photo was taken. Two were actually taken that day, one by Judy's mother - Bonnie, was it?

And the other one, the one I always kept in my wallet...

Well, my mom was the one who took the photo. I could still remember that day - not as clearly as I wanted to, but enough to remember the sheer positivity of it all. That day, Judy was one of the few mammals who went up to the podium and gave a speech on...well, making the world a better place. A few students - and yes, these were high school students - still laughed quietly, thinking it was silly or ridiculous that her dream was to become a cop.

And I always thought, what was so wrong about that? In many ways, a bunny could be useful in the force.

Judy already showed it a multitude of times over her life - at least, from what she told me.

I always hoped she would make it big. And she did.

"Fuck," I suddenly said, "I'm proud of her."

"I can tell," Nick remarks as he sips on his coffee, "You've been ogling that picture for a solid minute."

Right after he said that, my grin faded. I wasn't sad or upset or angry at all - I was curious about something he said in particular.

"Did you say 'meter-maid'?"

He nodded with another sip. "Not the cop she was hoping to be, right?"

I put the photo back into my wallet and my wallet back into my pocket. As I grabbed my soda, I explained it.

"Well - that's usually what happens to animals who start off in the force. You don't get your first case right away. You work up to it. Easy stuff first, complicated stuff later."

"And if she doesn't get her case...?"

"She'll get a case," I say as I finish my soda and throw away the can. "She's just either gotta prove herself or just wait. They can't keep her a meter-maid forever."

Nick shrugged slightly with another sip of coffee. After another minute, we ended the topic of Judy - even though she was on my mind for the rest of the night - and went on to other things.

Finnick spoke out.

"You hear about that flu going on?"

The red fox shook his head, then asked, "What flu?"

"It's some kind of virus that popped up a few days ago. It's been all over the news lately."

"Really? What kind? Pig Flu? Bird Flu?"

I said with a slight shake of my head and some movement of my paw, "They don't know. The-...scientists are saying this is a completely new thing going on."

"Oh," Nick said with a hint of worry in his voice and on his face, but more of curiosity and interest.

"They said it's not dangerous, but they'll let us know if any more goes on."

Finn looked up from his paper. "Where'd you find that out?"

I pointed to the living room with a thumb and remarked, "They had a five minute segment about it on TV. They interviewed a doctor who said it was harmless for the moment, but could mutate if it wanted to."

"Would a mutation be bad?" Nick asked.

"It depends. A number of things, really," I added.

"That's what they always say...like anything bad's gonna come of it," Finn added to the conversation.

Nick turned to him. "What makes you think that?"

Finn put his paper down and tilted his head while looking up at the ceiling, almost in a sarcastic manner.

Of course, that's what it was.

"Hmm...how about every outbreak since 2000? They always hype those kinds of things and convince animals it's gonna get bad and we're all gonna die. Then a celebrity has a baby and everyone forgets about the damn thing. Nothing ever comes of it, but every year, mammals are telling us to repent and say goodbye. And guess what? Nothing happens.

"Sure, a few mammals here and there die - it sucks. But they're acting like _everyone's_ gonna die."

He did have a point...basically, what I was thinking.

Though, I was curious and asked, "But aren't you a little worried about how fast this one's spreading?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well - they said it appeared just a few days ago, and it's already in-...several towns and villages. They're saying some of the cities have got it too, but-...you know, not as bad, just a few cases here and there."

Finnick looked back to his paper with an eyebrow raised in a way that said, _Hmm, interesting._

"Well," he finished, "I guess we'll see then. Maybe this'll be the year when they actually start spewing accurate bullshit."

The three of us chuckled for a moment. We stopped talking about the flu and started discussing...well, anything, really - just whatever didn't seem depressing or annoying to hear about. Lily came in after a few more minutes wearing different clothes and smelling...fresh _er._ She always smelled nice regardless.

We all discussed random topics to keep things or spirits up. When it got late, we decided to order a pizza with extra cheese and just watch something in the living room. Honey came downstairs after a while - surprisingly, not in her bunker - and joined us.

"So," Nick started, "What do you guys wanna watch?"

"How about Battleground?" Lily suggested. "I've always wanted to watch that. Sounds like it'd be a cool war movie."

"Not even close, hon," Finnick responded, "It's just another cheesy romance about a love triangle."

Did he call her 'hon'?

"Seriously?" she remarked, somewhat upset. "Why the hell would they call a romantic film _Battleground_? Makes no sense!"

I spoke up.

"Surprisingly - it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Though, it's still pretty shit. Not to mention...misleading."

"Honey, what about you?" Nick pointed the remote to the honey badger.

"Hmm-...how about The Savage? I heard it's a pretty good film."

"Isn't that the film about Jack Savage?" he replies. "You know, that undercover agent that-...like...kicks ass and...uh...

"Okay, I've never seen the film, but apparently, it's a bunny who kicks a lot of ass."

Honey shrugs. "That's pretty much it."

Nick gives a smirk and a chuckle. "Well - my kind of film."

The fox turns to the television and turns it on. It was still tuned to the same news channel from before, only now showing the ten o'clock news, mid sentence.

 **ONE MAULED, TWO DEAD** , it said.

It was when I saw the word **MAULED** that I told them to wait a minute.

"In recent news tonight - what was supposed to be a routine police call turned into a violent attack, which ended in two dead. A small neighborhood in the district of Hooflyn was stricken with shock and horror tonight, as a male - a polar bear - seemingly _mauled_ his own wife to death. When police arrived at the scene, the man was seen _eating_ his wife's _stomach_ , and even attempted to attack officers, before being shot and killed."

"My god," Lily spoke up, "Why would you wanna hear about this?"

I held a paw up, gently.

"Officers then see the wife _stand_ up from the floor and _also_ attempt to attack officers, forcing them to open fire. Both were confirmed to be killed on the scene. Officers have reason to believe that some form of psychedelic drug could be the cause. Friends of the late wife have also claimed that she had called them and told them that the man had already been dead - just only minutes prior to the attacks. Investigations are pending-"

Finn talked over it. "What does that even mean? What, he was already dead before all that?"

Honey added to the conversation with a shake of her head. "It's probably some dumb Halloween prank by some kids. Someone did that for last year, scared a whole town. Makes it worse that he only got community service, but hey-...at least he got punished."

I looked to her.

"But it's May."

A bit of silence, with the TV playing in the background.

"Oh."

She tilted her head with a suggestion. "Maybe it's some kind of advertisement for a new horror show or something?"

Nick looked at the television with a curious but unamused face, with the remote still in his hands.

"Nope," he says, "It's definitely the news channel."

I suggested, "They _did_ do something like that a few years ago. Somebody paid a news channel to fake a broadcast that something bad was going on. Then at the very end, they showed it was just an ad. A cool ad, by the way, but-...yeah."

With a sigh, Nick replied, "Well, they're talking about soccer now, so it's definitely not an ad."

Lily simply said, "Could be drugs. At least, that's what they said."

"...Yeah," I almost mumbled.

For a second, it got quiet again as we didn't talk. Nick decided halfway through the silence to start flipping channels in hopes of breaking the awkwardness.

Then the door bell rang, which further helped. Honey walked into the hallway to the other entrance door, exchanged words with somebody, and came back with two boxes in her hands.

"Pizza's here," she says almost casually as she placed the boxes on the table.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to draw ourselves away from the thought of the news report and onto less awkward things.

Such as the pizza being goddamn delicious. Or the movies that were playing at the moment being either really cheesy or really good.

By the time we were all ready for bed, it was back to normal. No more awkwardness, no more worry - if there ever was. By midnight, we turned off the television and downstairs lights and all headed to our respective rooms.

"Don't forget your alarms, got it?" Finnick said to Lily. The otter had forgotten to set them in recent days, hoping _our_ alarms would be just as helpful.

They didn't, but she still tried.

"Alright, alright," Lily said as she headed back. "'Night."

We all began to exchange our goodnights back and forth as we all closed our doors behind us and got ready for sleep.

But before I did, I stopped Honey.

"Hey, Honey?" I said to her.

She poked her head through the doorway. "Yeah?"

This was on my mind for the past few hours, so I had to ask her:

"Do you happen to have a sister, by any chance?"

With a tilt of her head, she replied, "Yeah, an older sister, Madge. Why?"

Of course.

"I-...saw her on the news today."

"Really?" her eyes opened a bit with surprise. "What about?"

I hardly lifted my paw and tilted my head. "The flu, that's all."

She clicked her mouth. "Oh."

A nod and a grin from me. "Yeah."

We smiled back to each other. It was silent, except for whatever noise rang in the other rooms. It stayed like that for a few moments. It was never too awkward whenever we talked - guess it just depended on the setting, that's all.

"Well, goodnight!" Honey said as she headed back into her room.

"Night," I said back and went in just as quick.

Well - _sometimes_ , things were awkward. This was only awkward because...

What kind of conversations could you really have in the hallway? And at midnight?

With it over with, I grabbed my money from my pocket and headed on over to the closet. When I opened it up - I was greeted with four bags.

All of them were filled with money.

About five million dollars, give or take.

I was a millionaire.

Still couldn't believe it, and I probably never will.

I opened up the least full bag, tossed the wad in, and closed it, before shutting the closet once more. I took off my jacket and got myself out of my shirt and pants, until I was wearing nothing but boxers.

Something about sleeping in just boxers was so...freeing, in a strange way.

Or maybe it was the fact that my fur just felt so much better when not all bundled up in clothes.

With a gentle hop, I climbed into bed and took a deep breath. I stretched and let out a yawn. It was obvious I was tired, and laying on a bed only helped it along.

As I laid in bed for several minutes, my mind - as usual - played over the day like a record. How it went, how it could've gone, what should've happened and really happened, how Nick could've gotten arrested and yet, he didn't-...

Hmm...

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Judy made it.

She really did it. She finally did it.

She became a **_cop_**.

It was hard not to be proud. So many animals, even her own family, put her down-...because they didn't think bunnies could be cops. There were times where I felt like I was the only animal she knew that actually thought she could do it. I never gave up on that belief.

And now it's been _six_ years.

Now she's here, in Zootopia, living her dream.

Sure, it isn't what she wanted right away - but I know she's patient enough to wait for that day.

I just hope I'll be able to see that day come and maybe-...

...

Oh.

Oh shit.

...

I'm friends with a goddamn cop.

* * *

 **I know the ending might be cheesy or seem rushed. It was 4 in the morning when I finished it. Literature! :D**

 **The news reports of 'maulings' will be rare for several chapter. It won't be until around a week into the story-line, around the time of the peace rally, that these attacks will start to become common. That's when things are kicked into hyper gear.**

 **When the next chapter will be, I'm not sure. :D**


	4. Chapter 4: It's Called a Hustle

**Point in story: Judy is given Otterton case, strange virus continues to spread, and reports - extremely slowly - begin to appear of random maulings, though they occur rarely (at first). Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: It's Called a Hustle**

Morning had come along faster than it always felt for me. One moment, the thought of Judy was fresh in my mind, my eyes guided to the ceiling.

Then suddenly, I wake up on my side with the sun almost in my face.

At least it woke me up.

As usual, I got up from bed, put on a fresh set of clothes, and made sure I was properly dressed. With a brief look in the mirror, I quickly remembered to grab my jacket, not forgetting that I chose Tundratown today. I was always more used to the cold than the heat - and to be honest, doing business selling Pawpsicles in a cold climate would probably help.

...Well, maybe not in sales, but in terms of keeping them from melting in five minutes.

By the time I was ready and had whatever was for breakfast, the others were grabbing their things and prepping for the day ahead. I did the same. I made my way to the storage room and started to grab my own things. For Tundratown, a lot of the things we normally used were not as needed, such as one of the coolers. In Tundratown, we would literally hang them from a wire like they were clothes drying.

By ten in the morning - we would usually ready ourselves by then and head on out - we were all prepped and ready to go. Lily and Honey hopped their way into the back, grabbing their gear and lifting it in with them.

Once theirs were in, I started lifting my own things into the back, and was just about to hop in too. And then I noticed Nick and Finnick talking to each other from a small distance. Finn was in his elephant costume, lifting himself into the stroller, and Nick chuckling as if he just made some kind of witty remark.

"Wait," I said to them, "What're you guys doing?"

They quickly noticed me staring at them.

"Oh," Nick answered, "Finn and I are taking a more casual route into town."

A slight eyebrow raise, I ask, "You guys gonna walk there?"

"That's the plan."

A split second of silence in between his and my answer. "Oh."

I get down from my mid-climb into the van and point to it with my thumb.

"So," I began, "Does that mean I drive, or-...?"

"Who else?" Nick remarked.

"H-"

Then I remembered last month. "Never mind.

"But what about Lily?"

She hollered from the back of the van. "I might be 31! Doesn't mean I'm a good driver!"

I barely moved my head to the side, only somewhat confused.

"So," I started, "other than Finnick, I'm the only one who can drive that rust bucket even remotely well."

With a faint smile and a shrug of his shoulders, Nick spoke, "Seems that way."

"I-"

I immediately sighed, waving it off. "Alright, then."

I closed the back doors myself and headed over to the driver's door. As I did, I noticed that the seat consisted of a stack of books and what seemed to be a stick with a small flat top on it, which had both been taped to the gas pedal.

You'd think Finn would've bought a van with some kind of mechanic for animals of his size - but at least he had some kind of idea.

"You can just take it off for now," the fennec said to me from behind. "Nothing another patch of duct tape won't fix."

With a subtle chuckle of my snout and a just as subtle shake of my head, I removed the 'mechanism' from the pedal and placed it in the back with Honey and Lily; I then grabbed the books and placed them in between the seats before getting in.

It'd been a while since I drove a car, but I still knew how to drive one if needed, at least.

I shut the driver door and poked my head out the window as I looked back to Finn and Nick.

"You guys sure you don't wanna drive?" I asked them. "Or at least maybe want a ride?"

"Nah," Nick said as he bunched up his face slightly and waved it off. "We'll be good."

With a nod, I waved them a farewell and started up the van. In a moment, the familiar hum of the van's engine brought it to life. For an old rusty van, its engine roared like a mustang.

Now that brought up some questions.

They can wait, though.

I turned my head around to Honey and Lily. "Who wants to sit in the passenger seat?"

Almost immediately, they shouted, almost at the same time, "Shotgun!"

Honey said it first.

"Damn," Lily mumbled to herself as she clenched her fists and shook them slightly, the familiar gesture of defeat.

The honey badger stuck her tongue out playfully with her own victory 'gesture'. Lily also did the same. Honey climbed in between both seats and hopped herself into the passenger seat with a satisfied, "Ah."

Making sure the both of them were ready, I rolled up the door window, adjusted the rearview mirror slightly, and placed the gear into Drive.

With a slight push of the pedal, the car gently _lurched_ forward. Like I said, it'd been a while since I'd driven, so it was a bit of a strange momentary rush when I felt my body move backward into the seat.

"Not used to it, are you?" Honey asked me with a nudge of my elbow. I smiled a little and shook my head.

I pushed the pedal in further and the van sped up as we passed through the doorway of the warehouse. Once we were outside, I turned the wheel to the right and kept on going forward. The docks were a mass array of crates, containers, new and old ships, and perhaps some small apartment buildings yet to be torn down. Thanks to Honey's clever mind, though, we were able to check our building as 'still in operation'.

Of course, there would be some time before someone would grow suspicious. We all pitched in and promised to buy a house somewhere in the city legitimately when the time came.

Hopefully, that day wouldn't have to come. I hated having to move from one place to the next.

Though I lived in Wolfshire most of my life, there was a time when my family moved to Detrot for my father's job.

Come 2001, a riot breaks out downtown.

Over a Pawball game.

My father's workplace burns to the ground, and we move back after only a year living there. When we got back, nearly everyone in town had thrown a huge 'Welcome Back!' party for us.

That was the only time I left Wolfshire up until my mother died.

I mean, sure, I miss that small town-...

But I could've been a lot worse if I _never_ left.

* * *

 **Nicholas Wilde**

 **Downtown Zootopia, 1:24 P.M.**

That kid was learning a lot. Six years was a lot of time to learn how to really hustle like a pro - but I started working with Finnick when I was twelve, when Finn himself was still in his - what, mid-twenties?

That was twenty years ago. Sure, I've learned a lot, I've learned how to get away with a lot of things, know the right animals, and get what I want by day's end. That took two decades.

And the kid learned just about half in less than ten _years_.

Hmph. Hell, I could see him running things in five more. I think he'd deserve it.

But - I can't get ahead of myself. The present's still here.

We had already finished our business about an hour ago. Everything we had gotten was waiting back at the warehouse for the kid and the others. I called them and let them know. If I'm right, they're most likely getting ready to start selling. I figured we perhaps meet up with them, maybe help expand the sales.

Finnick had chosen to stay in the stroller, not only to keep his character - but because he wanted to take a bit of a nap.

Heh - lazy bastard.

But how could I hate him?

We spent nearly an hour walking around the downtown area. As much as I didn't really like many of the animals here - I couldn't deny it.

Zootopia was beautiful.

Everything about it - the buildings, the layout, and the view - it was all so mesmerizing.

I could get lost in the city - which, by now, is impossible - and I wouldn't care a bit. I could spend hours just walking around, looking at everything, touching everything, and never get sick of it.

Hm...

If only I could be that young me again-

"Hey!"

That voice-...oh. Please tell me-...

I turned my head to the source.

"Me again!"

There she was, wearing that 'grin' of hers.

The one animal I didn't want to see much today.

Or ever.

"Hey, officer Toot Toot!" I said with my fakest of smiles. It was enough to even make her fall for it.

But it didn't make her go away, and I could only guess what she had up her sleeve today or what 'interesting details' she wanted me to know.

"I was hoping you could help me solve a case!" she exclaimed with a pen and a notebook in one paw.

Of course she did.

"What happened, Carrots? Did someone steal a traffic cone? It wasn't me~!" I pushed the stroller forward and moved faster than her teeny car had been going for the moment.

For a second, I was hoping she'd just leave me alone and get on with her life, maybe play cop with someone else instead of me.

But nope - she was persistent, definitely.

The car pulled up in front of me and blocked my way. A brief sound of the siren, the rabbit stepped out.

"Hey, Carrots," I exclaimed in a quiet manner, "You're gonna wake the baby."

Trust me - you wouldn't want to see Finnick when he's disturbed.

"I gotta get to work."

"I think your _ten dollars_ worth of popsicles can wait."

Ha. She really was dumb.

"I make two-hundred bucks a _day_ , fluff! Three-hundred sixty-five days a year since I was twelve."

And time was money. Literally.

"Hop along."

"Please, just look at the picture," the rabbit stood firm with an eyebrow raised.

Ugh.

Fine. Fine! I'll play along with her little game. What's the worst she could do?

But not more than one second after that thought popped into my head...

She took out the picture of Emmitt.

And immediately - my smile faded. It might've been there, only a smidgen of it, but it was mostly gone.

It'd been so long...

And of course, the rabbit seemed to notice my change right away - and I think she was using it to her advantage.

 _"You can't let your personal beliefs get in the way of these gigs, man."_

It may have been for the kid - but they were words to live by.

I got back into my normal - well, normal as could be - self and let out a calm breath. I wasn't going to let her get to me.

The smile came back. It may have been fake, maybe not, but it was there.

"You sold Mr. Otterton that Pawpsicle, right? Do you know him?"

I leaned gently against the stroller. "I know everybody."

It was true. Being here for twenty years, you really get familiar with everything.

But I didn't want to get familiar with her.

"And I also know that somewhere - there's a toy store missing its stuffed animal."

Her hopeful smile faded with every word I said.

"So why don't you get back to your box?"

I was most definitely not young enough to say it anymore - but _burn._

The rabbit frowned, and it made me hope that she would just give up, walk away, and never talk to me again.

But nope.

Like I said, persistent.

She put the photo back in the notebook she had been carrying - or was it a binder? - and raised her eyebrows to me in a disappointed manner.

But I didn't care.

"Fine," she says, "Then we'll have to do this the hard way."

What could possibly count as the ha-

 _clink!_

I opened my eyes more and looked down.

Then back to her.

"Did you just-... _boot_ my stroller?"

She stood firm again, her voice just as.

"Nicholas Wilde, you're under arrest."

...In a kind of way, that was cute.

In both a serious and joking manner, of course.

I scoffed, "For what, _hurting yow're feewings?_ "

And for that brief moment, I doubted she could take me in.

Oh, but that smile said otherwise.

But I wasn't afraid of some cute, little-...

"Felony tax evasion."

Oh.

Oh, shit.

I didn't speak, I didn't act - except for widening my eyes - and I didn't move.

But she was twirling her paws about, smiling and opening and closing her mouth with all kinds of things.

Oh - but she didn't stop there. She kept on going. She multiplied, added, divided numbers up and down. My age, the cash, all kinds of things-...I mean, my mind just started racing, how did-...

She planned it, didn't she? She-...

"Zero!" she finalized it.

That's how much I returned. That's how much I paid my taxes.

Zero.

She knew it all along.

Oh, and she rubbed it in my face as she scrunched up her own in a smug little smile.

"Five years jail time."

I...

Wait - _how_ would she be able to prove that?

"Well," I said to her, "It's my word against yours."

She knew that much - right?

Oh, but no - she was prepared for even _that_.

She held up the carrot shaped pen that she held in her paw and held a little button.

And it played back every word I had said just moments ago.

 _"Two-hundreds bucks a day, fluff! Three-hundred sixty-five days a year since I was twelve."_

The recording ended there.

I was out of options.

She-...beat me.

The bunny beat me at my...own game.

I tried to act calm, I did-...but...

How could I now?

"Actually," she stated, "It's your word against yours."

And now she gave me a choice.

It was either help find Emmitt and get that dumb pen back and prevent spending half a decade in prison - or spend half a decade in prison.

At this point, she definitely wasn't joking. She went from being some...dumb little bunny to...some kind of manipulative...

Well...I can't really call her that. I never really saw myself as a hypocrite.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart." She smiled as she waved the pen in my face.

Though, I guess I could call her one. For being somebody who hated _hustlers_ , she-...

She...

"She hustled you."

I stopped thinking and looked down as I heard the sound of cackling.

The top opened up and Finnick's ears came flopping out as he started laughing at the situation I had gotten myself into.

Laughing at my defeat. That was always such a cheesy word in my mind; I hated it.

But right now, that was really a fitting way to describe it.

And Finn - my own buddy - just laughed in my face because of it.

"She hustled you _good_!"

Please, shut up.

He hopped up and gripped my tie.

"You a cop now, Nick!"

Oh, god...was I really-?

"You're gonna need one of these."

That sticker, the one the rabbit put on his little costume - he just ripped it off and slapped it on my shirt, all while holding his laughter in, but clearly smiling at it.

I wasn't smiling. I was...was I frustrated, annoyed, upset?

And he wasn't helping either.

He hopped down to the ground and started walking away from me, from the mess I made.

Or rather - the mess _she_ made.

"Have fun workin' with the fuzz!" he waltzed off into the alleyway, laughing his small fennec ass off.

Ugh...I had a good sense of mind to...god, sometimes I just wanted to-...

"Start talking," Carrots spoke to me once it was only the two of us.

As much as I didn't want to say or do anything...I didn't want to spend five years behind bars.

And the last thing I wanted was to end up getting the kid, out of all of us, involved. He's had enough problems as is.

So I talked.

"I don't know where he is - I only saw where he went."

A part of me did want to help find Emmitt. He was a good friend to me, had been for years. But the guy went missing and _nobody's_ seen a trace of him. What were the chances I or this _cop_ could be able to change any of that?

But she kept believing, hoping that something would come of it.

And she just had to _drag_ me along with her.

She got into her car and ordered me to come with.

Oh...she probably wouldn't like the place I'm talking about.

"It's not exactly a place for a...cute little bunny."

And it seemed to tick her off, that word. _Cute._

Cute cute cute.

"I'm not cute."

Yeah, she was.

"Get in the car."

I let a little smile come on and I made my way over.

"Okay, you're the boss."

I have a feeling this might be fun.

Maybe she won't be so bad after all.

Heh.

...

...

...

Who knew...?

...

Who knew that just a month later...

 _None of it would matter anyway?_

* * *

 **A quicker, slightly different version from the film. If it's rushed, sorry - I finished it up at 2 in the morning. Plus, I'm bad at trying to write out the situation while keeping Nick in character.**

 **The next couple of chapters will detail scenes from the film, but with added or changed parts. Even the dead might have some involvement at one point. Eventually, the story will skip one week, as done in the film, but with many differences. The week literally has nothing happen but more cases appearing and more talks of attacks - but no real progress until the week passes by. Then things hit the fan.**

 **Sorry if this was a short chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: Nothing

**Quick mention. Yes, I know, long time since update. Other stories, college, work, etc.**

 **Stories are still being made, etc.**

 **Enjoy. :)**

* * *

 **Sam, Tundratown**

 **3:30 PM**

Lily, Honey, and I had been spending the past hour or so selling Pawpsicles. So far, business was smooth, even if it was cold. I guess even the cold can't beat a good frozen snack every once in a while.

It was odd how in the years we had been operating, not one of us had the idea of just getting more than one set of coolers or tables and all that. Sure, we had stands, but everything else? We had to share.

I took a sip of my Frappuccino and let out a sigh. Even on a day as cool as this, I could never deny a cold, sugary beverage like this. I swirled my tongue around in my mouth as I savored the flavor of the drink and looked out to the skyline that made up Tundratown. Traffic flowed like the breeze, animals warm and cold-blooded strolled by, going about their day. At times, the three of us would get the occasional glance from a passerby, but they paid us no general mind. It all seemed relatively calm.

And, admittedly, it would've been calmer, had I not been listening to the news inside the van.

 _"In a developing new story, the mysterious virus that has been going around the country for the past few days now has seen over thirty-thousand cases, though scientists are saying that number could climb to the millions in just a few days. While they discuss the possibility of discovering a cure, members of the Disease Center have warned citizens and government officials in the possible case that the virus, now officially dubbed Wildfire, could mutate... but into what?"_

The passenger door suddenly clicked open, and Honey helped herself up onto the seat.

"Hey!" she said with a smile. "Did I miss anything _spooky_?"

"Not exactly," I said hesitantly.

 _"This disease that we're dealing with, like common flu strains, are highly mutable. At the moment, it doesn't pose a threat, but when it mutates - and there's no "if" on that - we have no clue what we will be dealing with next."_

"It's Madge," Honey spoke up. "It's been a while since I heard her speak."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we don't... We don't exactly see each other very often. It's been a couple of years since we last talked, at least face to face."

"Why?"

Honey scrunched her face for a moment, before letting out a sigh and turning down the volume of the radio, just for a moment.

"Madge and I didn't split apart over arguments or anything, if that's what you're thinking. There was nothing to argue about. She loved talking about science all her life. So when she finally became a doctor, she had no choice but to focus on her work most of the time. When she got promoted to work at the ZDC... It's just been a while since she really visited anybody."

"Have you ever thought about seeing her?"

"Of course. But like I said, she's always busy. The only time I've ever talked to her is by letter or by Strype. I don't even know her number."

"You don't know her number?"

"No, she changed it a while ago. I'd been meaning to ask her, but _I_ haven't even had the time to ask."

With another sigh, Honey stared at the radio and turned it back up, Madge still talking about the ongoing outbreak.

 _"-one of the most pivotal examples of deadly outbreaks is the Zebra flu, near the end of the Third Great War. At the time, there were a billion mammals living on the planet, and they just ended the third largest war in our history, and that already killed 50 million. The virus, when it first broke out, was harmless. Mammals were getting sick easily, but it was assumed it would just brush itself away and everything would be fine._ _But then the flu mutated, and suddenly, we had bunnies, tigers, foxes, and dogs dropping like flies left and right over just days, with no way to stop it. By the time it was over, it killed 10 percent of the world population in 3 months, and even today, some parts of the world are still recovering from it."_

 _"Do you believe the same thing will happen with this flu?"_

 _"We don't know, but how it's spreading as is now is scarily similar to the Zebra flu."_

 _"Do you believe it might be Zebra flu?"_

 _"We considered it, but despite the similarities, we found differences in our findings compared to the findings back then. That, and adding to the suspected attacks in recent days that, while we're not saying are connected, have happened in some remote cases. Zebra flu didn't make mammals kill their spouses or siblings."_

After the report had gone on long enough, I switched to play another station, but Honey had already gone, waiting outside with Lily. They talked for a few minutes longer, occasionally laughing back and forth, but Honey would then go back to frowning, looking up and down the busy roads hoping to see the two appear from behind a corner. I got out of the van and asked her if she was okay, but she crossed her arms and sighed again.

"They should've been back by now."

"Maybe they're stuck in traffic?"

"We have the van, remember?"

"I know. I mean, maybe traffic won't let them cross the street. Maybe it's busy. You know how bad Sahara is."

"Yeah, I'm aware. Last year and all. Still, it shouldn't take them an hour to get here, even by walking."

"And they're not answering their phones, either," Lily quipped, putting away her phone after attempting to call the duo. "You think something happened?"

"I don't know. Maybe their phones died."

"We always charge our phones before we go out."

I shrugged, giving another sip of my drink. Picking up my own phone, I called Nick's number, then Finnick's. All I received was their typical voicemail; either they had turned them off, or something had gone wrong. I called Nick one more time and waited for the tone to beep. Once it did, I talked.

"Nick, it's Sam. Just calling to make sure everything is okay. Lily and Honey did the same thing; you must not have gotten them. Call us as soon as you get this, okay? Unless you're driving, I mean. In that case, don't call, we'll wait. Okay, bye."

As I hung up the phone, I winced at myself. We only had one vehicle, and we currently had it. Nick and Finnick only went into town with a stroller. Unless they stole a vehicle, they were walking... well, one of them.

A few more seconds passed before Lily squeaked out, "Hey, there they are! ... Nope, wait. It's just Finnick."

The otter pointed in the direction of the small fennec, still seemingly rocking his little elephant costume. Some passersby looked with worry, assuming him to be a child, but a quick glance, and the looks turned to confusion, but they ultimately ignored him afterwards.

"Where's Nick?" Honey asked.

"He's fine," Finn answered casually at first, but couldn't help but snicker. "Just had a run-in with the law."

"Nick got arrested?!" Lily exclaimed, but Finn was quick to calm them down.

"He wasn't arrested... well, not yet, I guess."

"What does that mean?"

"Well... let's just say he's helping a certain cop _make the world a better place._ "

As he said that, he eyed me. Just hearing the quote was enough to make my paws sweat, and make Lily's and Honey's ears perk.

"Don't you say that sometimes?" Honey remarked, but I was too busy looking at Finn, a deadpanned stare clear on my face.

"Don't tell me..."

He didn't have to tell me anything; all he had to do was nod. I winced again and covered my face with my paws.

"Of all the cops he had to get caught by..."

"Which cop are you talking about?" Lily piped. "Is there something we don't know about?"

At first, I raised an eyebrow behind cover, but sighed. "Right, you weren't here when I told them."

"Told them what?"

"Uh... well... why don't we finish this up downtown, and I'll tell you on the way?"

Initially, Lily opened her mouth to reject, but closed it in agreement. The four of us packed up our equipment, got in the van, and started for downtown, which was only ten minutes of a drive.

"You're all done here?" Finnick asked.

Honey nodded. "What took you so long to get here, anyway? Sahara's not that far."

"We didn't go to Sahara. Nick decided the same time he told you that he wanted to go for a stroll downtown instead."

"Ugh," I groaned. "Well, he's doing Sahara tomorrow, whether he likes it or not."

"Leave me the truck tomorrow, and I'll make sure of that," Finn suggested, earning a brief laugh from me.

"So," Lily called from the back, "before we forget, who was the cop?"

I was hoping they would've forgotten. But I realized, in the end, that it was better to just get it over with.

"A friend."

Honey recoiled in her seat. "Wait... you're a _**spy**_?!"

"What? No! Not like that! A friend from high school... and... maybe an ex."

"Go on. Seriously."

There was a thing about Honey: Even though many of her beliefs and claims were flat-out ridiculous or crazy, she didn't hesitate to get serious about it, even the real problems, or what she thought were real problems.

"Back in high school, I had this friend. A bunny. Her name was Judy Hopps."

"Wait," Lily interrupted, "the _bunny_ cop is your friend?"

"Yeah, that... that's pretty much... anyway, I went to high school with her, and every chance she had, she talked about her dreams of becoming a police officer, at least the first bunny officer. She said she always wanted to "make the world a better place.""

"That's where you got that quote from?"

I nodded, keeping my focus to the road, which gradually started to increase with traffic. My foot was pressed to the pedal less and less.

"She got made fun of a lot during those years. I was able to step in and keep her safe... keep her happy. A lot of the mammals that were her friends either completely abandoned her or started making fun of her for it to."

"But not you?"

I nodded my head. "... She told me that was the reason she loved me. I never judged her for who she was or who she wanted to be. I just... let her be."

"You two dated?" Honey asked me, and I nodded again. "Wasn't it illegal back then?"

"It was never illegal. Shunned upon, yeah - even today - but not illegal. In fact, some of the other students encouraged it. We were probably the happiest couple in the entire school. We never lied to each other, we were never too different from one another. We were always smiling. We carried that into college, and we never let it go."

I sighed loudly.

"Then my mother died. That changed everything. I stopped going to class to take care of my dad, and I tried working to support the house and everything else. I... I didn't have time to see her often. Every time I saw her, I wanted to just be happy, forget everything for a second and just... be with her. I tried it for five months. I couldn't even do that."

"So what happened?"

"... One day, she talked to me and... and I could see that pained look in her eyes, like she didn't want to do what she was gonna do, but had to anyway... and she said... "I can't be the one to make you better." She broke up with me right there, in my bedroom, because she was tired of trying to help me."

"... Wow," Lily whispered in disbelief. "So much for making the world a better place."

"I don't blame her. It was all just so bad then. First my mom, then my dad, then my whole childhood is repossessed by the government. That same night, the house burned down, and I had nothing."

"Yeah... I remember you telling us that when we first met."

By now, the traffic had come to a standstill, but I kept talking.

"The next night, I moved. I didn't take anything with me. No phone, no old toy, not even a photograph. I just put it someplace and I ran away from everything. I didn't stop running until I came here."

"Did you ever... say goodbye?"

Regretfully, I shook my head and looked down. "I didn't talk to anyone from that town or high school or even college. I left _everything_ because I had nothing left. ... I just remember hearing that they looked for me, for days, talking about it on the local radios. They didn't find anything for a long time. ... And then they found this body of a wolf who had taken their life by the river near my house. He looked so much like me... they were convinced it _was_ me."

Honey stared at me. "So... they think you're dead?"

"Yeah. They all do."

I looked on ahead at the road, listening to the sounds of mammals talking and horns honking. Then there was something that I realized for the first time in six years, and I couldn't stop thinking about it now.

"She doesn't even know I'm alive."

The inside of the van went deathly silent, even as the outside world rang loudly. None of them wanted to ask anymore questions.

"Hey," Honey rested a paw on my shoulder, "do you wanna just go home instead? You don't have to finish if you don't want."

"No, I... The juice will just go to waste."

"We have a fridge, Sam. And we're not gonna go broke in a day."

Thunder boomed in the distance. Because we were now outside Tundratown, there was no snow to greet us, only rain.

"Okay. We'll go home... soon as the traffic clears up."

"Why is it stopped up like this?" Lily questioned. "It's never this bad, is it?"

"Usually when there's an accident, but I can't see anything from here."

Honey sprang up. "Ooh, it could be that parade! The Summer Festival or something!"

"No, that's in June."

A moment later, police officers appear from behind vehicles, individually knocking on windows, giving a brief chat to the drivers, then moving onto the cars behind them. A lion cop came up to our window, knelt down and knocked. I rolled it down and asked her if something was wrong up ahead.

"There's been an accident up ahead. The situation's been handled, and we're going to be redirecting traffic to the left. Please keep your left blinker on and prepare to turn left when ready."

I didn't ask anything else; I simply thanked her for the information and rolled the window up as she walked away to the cars behind me.

Finn stared at the rear-view mirror and scoffed. "That was pretty broad."

Lily stood in between Honey and I. "What do you think that was about?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out up ahead."

"I'm just gonna stay back here. I don't want to end up looking at a dead body."

"I doubt they'd just leave a body out in the open, Lil."

"It's happened before."

I didn't notice it at first, but all of the cars in front of us had their left blinkers on. I followed the same instruction and turned mine on. Within a couple of minutes, the cops all walked their way back to the front, taking the sidewalks as the traffic finally began to move, though slowly. As soon as we were able to move, we took the chance and drove forward, earning a few honks from the cars behind us, but I paid them no mind.

As the cars all moved in a straight line, occasionally merging to the left, we saw the number of mammals on the sidewalks and in the road begin to grow. By the time we got up to the scene that caused the jam, there were dozens of mammals scattered around a small number of officers. At first, I didn't see anything, what they were surrounding.

But as soon as the small white tarp was visible, I knew someone had died. The tarp was big and long, so it had to have been a giraffe, I assumed. Looking beyond the tarp, I could see a tall, tanned, and wrecked vehicle, very clearly one belonging to a giraffe. Another car was crashed beside it, and presumably the driver, a bull, standing next to it and talking to officers, clearly distraught.

"Alright, folks, clear out of here! Go back to your business, this is strict police matters!"

Despite ignoring the first shouts by the officers, the crowd eventually did start to split, returning to whatever they were doing. Some stayed, wanting to help, but were turned away and told to go about their business. Eventually, we reached the corner and turned it, on a clearer path back to the warehouse.

"Nature never was exactly fair," claimed Finnick.

Lily pointed to the radio. "Why don't we just play something? Maybe there's a song we can sing along to."

"Yeah. I could do with music right now." Honey turned on the radio and tuned it to one of our favorite radio stations, and the first song to come on...

Carry on my wayward son~

All of us except Finnick started laughing, quickly lifting our spirits.

"I love this song," Lily stated. When she noticed Honey laughing as if it was a joke, she added, "I'm not kidding, I legitimately love this song."

"I grew up with their stuff," I turned to her. "Well, long after they stopped making stuff, I mean."

Finnick listened to the song, but lightly shook his head. "I could never get into their music. I'm fine with others liking it, but I was never a big fan."

While the group argued with laughter about Finnick's taste in music, I glanced for a few seconds at the rear-view mirror, back at the accident that we passed just moments ago. The crowd was gone, and all that was left was the tarp, the officers, and the vehicles.

But then there was something I noticed. It was as if the body beneath the tarp had gotten up, just for a moment, and grabbed the closest officer. At first, I assumed that I had just been seeing things, becoming paranoid, and before I could even confirm it, we turned another corner, and I couldn't see them anymore.

Honey, Lily, and Finnick couldn't hear the gunshots ring out into the air. I could. Maybe I could hear a faint scream too.

I didn't know. I just sang with them.

* * *

 **Nicholas Wilde**

 **8:35 PM**

I would be more than happy to admit that this was fun, at first, making Officer Hopps' little "investigation" go as _smoooooothly_ as possible. The thanks to Flash was more than genuine.

But after a while of being with her, I started to realize it wasn't as fun as I thought. It was actually starting to get a little bit annoying. No matter what I did to help her, she wouldn't let me go. I helped her with all the information I had on me, the information I could find for her, and what do I get? I get called a "shifty low-life" in return. How blessing of her.

And now, we're in the back of Mr. Big's limo, on our way to certain death, because she was just a little too confident.

The two of us sat in between Big's bodyguards, Kevin and Raymond, eyes glued to the front as we waited to eventually arrive at the mansion, where Big expected us. Raymond watched and laughed over some... interesting photos of him, Kevin, and a wolf. I could only hope I'd get out of this with my head _not_ detached from my body. Finn would kill me.

"What did you do that made Mr. Big so mad at you?" Officer Hopps whispered to me.

Hesitantly, I told her the only answer I could even remotely think of to say.

"I... I may have sold him a _very_ expensive wool rug, that was made from the fur of a... skunk...'s butt."

I didn't directly look at her, but I could just feel her looking at me and giving me this look of loathing that I had felt a million times before I ever met her.

"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers."

The limo continued down the snowy roads of Tundratown, and for an odd reason, it brought to mind that Sam and the others were down here earlier today selling Pawpsicles. Finn coming back alone probably convinced them all to head home for the day. As soon as I got back, I'd be sure to stop the business until it all blew over.

Or in this case, until we can find proper gloves for our paws. Even I could admit someone getting sick would be inevitable.

Speaking of sick, the driver had the radio playing throughout the car in the minutes before we arrived, listening at first to whatever music was available. But after the music was over, there came the news, and as they had been talking about for the past couple of days, it was talk of the flu that had been going around the country.

It'd gotten worse.

 _"As we've reported for the past four days, the now-dubbed Wildfire flu continues to spread fast and relentlessly. Citizens across Zootopia and the nearby regions of Bunnyburrow and Wolfshire have reported cases that exceed well into the hundreds of thousands, but now other cities and states across the nation are also reporting citizens coming down with the sickness._

 _"And what's worse: Rumors are rising that the disease has now been reported in other countries. It is believed that the nation of Zootropolis is now reporting the infection, marking the first ever report of the disease travelling across oceans, despite regulations by the NAA to ground or restrict flights to contain the virus. Scientists at the Disease Center in Buffalo City have stated that more cases adds to the potential risk of a worldwide mutation, should the outbreak spread further to other countries."_

Even as the reporter said all of that, it was as if I drowned it all out the moment he mentioned Wolfshire. Sam always talked about how he was from there, how he grew up there before coming here. But even that wasn't what I focused on. I turned to Carrots, and that annoyed expression she had towards me was completely gone. She was staring right at the radio, and had to have been for several moments.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, curious. She nodded, but said nothing. I tried to pry more out of her. "Do you know anyone from Wolfshire?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, but corrected herself. "No. I was just... thinking about my... family. Some of my siblings got this thing. I'm just worried, that's all."

"What, all three-hundred of them?" I joked.

"Two-hundred and seventy-nine, but no, just a few."

Inside, I laughed at her quickness to correct me, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, even just a little. Sam used to talk about his mother a lot back in the day, even the time when she was sick.

The look on his face... Carrots was the same. She cared about her family, and it showed - as much as she tried not to make it show.

Then there was this feeling in me, a kind of guilt that was building up. At first, I thought I'd be able to just hide it and ignore it, let whatever'd happen, happen on its own. But the more I waited, the more it built up. I found myself sighing, a bit too loudly.

"What's wrong?" the rabbit asked, and I looked at her, not at all ready - but did I have a choice?

"There's something I have to tell you."

"No talking," Raymond shouted, pushing me slightly and staring with a firm expression. If I listened closer, I'd hear a growl emitting from his throat.

"We'll talk later," whispered Carrots, before looking forward and refusing to make eye contact, out of sheer intimidation.

I did the same for a moment, looking forward and trying to get into the music playing at the front, something like a mix of modern and classical music. I had a feeling Finnick would get into it, oddly.

But my mind turned me to the window, outward into the darkness of the Tundratown streets. There was not a single mammal in this part of town, especially not at this time of night. Roads were devoid of cars, bus stops were devoid of potential riders, and sidewalks were entirely _abandoned_. But even then, none of that was entirely eerie to me.

It was the lone caribou, wandering aimlessly by the road. He walked with a limp, as if he was hurt, but he didn't aid it in any way. It was like he didn't realize he was hurt, just from the way he walked. When he saw the car, he looked and stared. There was something that was off about his stare that I couldn't understand or know about it.

It just terrified me.

As we drove away, the caribou followed us slowly, never being able to catch up to us. The driver had no intention to stop for him, or perhaps didn't even notice the mammal, or perhaps didn't even care.

The next time I turned around, he was gone.

"What's wrong?" Carrots mouthed to me.

"... Nothing."

Only I would be wrong. It was everything.

* * *

 **Hey, who remembers this story from two years ago? Nobody? Okay, then.**

 **I've been through a lot of things in the past two years and didn't have enough time to update stuff as much as I wanted to, or I was too lazy to do so. However, I'm really hoping to start working on this story and other stories again because I genuinely enjoy writing these stories when I have the energy/time to do it.**

 **I wish I took the time to add more detail to this chapter in terms of story, but I guess this was more of a focus on character development and backstory. Also, the main character has a name now, because I forgot that earlier. I always liked the name Sam.**

 **I promise I won't take two years to update a story again. I want to push out a few chapters this summer.**


	6. Chapter 6: 10-91d

**In the case this didn't finish as quick as I wanted, I started writing this on July 1, 2018. Hopefully by the time I finish this chapter, it wasn't too long of a wait.**

 **This chapter skips a bit forward but not too forward. :)**

* * *

 **Judy Hopps**

 **3:00 AM, the next day**

With everything that Mr. Big had told me, I found myself dumbfounded. He claimed that Emmitt Otterton had died in the back of the vehicle, but then he stated that Otterton abruptly attacked the driver. That was almost two weeks ago, and both went missing. Even the couple of guards Mr. Big had sent over to the house disappeared, and even after _that_ , plus the mass search he did, there was nothing to be found. No suspects, no bodies.

The shrew could be lying, leading us into a trap, for all Nick and I knew. But there was only one way to find that out.

After a few hours, the two of us were on our way to the Vine and Tujunga corner, in the Rainforest District. I was determined to solve the case and hopefully find out what happened to the other mammals Mr. Big sent. Everything kept piling on, and it all didn't make sense, at least not yet. I hoped not yet.

Nick and I were cramped in the small police vehicle, trying to pass the time by any means possible, but all we could settle on was listening to the radio. Every ten or so minutes, it went back and forth between music and the news, and the flu outbreak was all they could settle on at this point. Every hour seemed to get worse.

 _"Despite regulations by the NAA to ground all flights coming in and out of Zootopia, cases are continuously being reported in other countries. Scientists are expecting the number of cases to reach up to ten million by the end of the month, but fear possible mutations could-"_

I clicked off the radio and sighed. "It was a mistake to turn that on."

"Uh huh," Nick mumbled. I turned to him briefly.

"Are you okay?"

"... Yeah. I'm fine."

He didn't sound fine, but I decided not to egg him on to say more, and instead continued on the way. Rain started to fall, but the roof kept us dry for the most part.

After a while of driving, we finally arrived to the street corner and parked the car on the side of the road. I got out of the car and did a double take to be sure this was the right place, and the long bridge with the home at the end matched the description Mr. Big had given me.

"Alright, this is the place. Now all we need to do is see if somebody's-"

Before I could finish, I heard the car spring to life and start driving down the road.

"-home? Hey!"

Nick started the car and began to drive down the road, not even turning around to apologize for it! Thankfully, it was far too slow to get far before I stood in front of it and forced him to stop. He glanced at me with a somewhat irritated glare.

"Carrots, get out of the way."

"Get out of the car, Nick."

"I can't."

" _Yes_ you can. This is grand theft auto, Nick. I don't want to arrest you, but I will if I have to," I firmly stated, my feet planted on the pavement.

Nick stared at me for a second, then leaned a bit to the side and peering down the road behind me, with nothing but the faint lights of the vehicle to show them off. He took a look at the dashboard, then the keys. After a few seconds, he let out a frustrated sigh and turned off the vehicle.

"Fine," he answered, tossing me the keys. "I'll walk."

"Yes... to the house. We still have a case to so-"

" _You_ still have a case to solve. I don't. I'm not a cop."

"Yeah, you're a criminal who's been spending years avoiding something as simple as paying taxes, which I promised - even though I shouldn't - I would let go if you helped me solve this case. Yeah, you've really got a sprouting career there."

"Well, you're just gonna have to arrest me, then."

"So you're saying you _want_ to go to jail?"

"No, I'm not. What I _am_ saying is I want to warn my friends and get out of this city before things start going south."

"What are you talking about 'going south?'"

"Think about it, Carrots, and really think about it, because it took me a few hours to put it all together: They start talking about this new and strange flu going around two weeks ago, just _now_ starting to gain traction, and at that same time, over a dozen mammals go missing. Then you hear on the news about mammals mauling each other after they supposedly died, and now Mr. Big told us about the otter supposedly dying before attacking this Manchas guy, who _also_ went missing soon after, along with all the other mammals who went looking for them."

"Nick... what are you saying?"

The fox hesitated; the heat coming from my head had simmered down at this point and was left with confusion, a chilling idea creeping about.

"I'm saying... what if they're not just missing? What if they're... dead?"

It was a startling and rather disturbing possibility, and it was something I hoped I would rarely, or even never, have to experience. But that was part of the job as an officer of the law. I knew it when I signed up, and I knew that even when Chief Bogo gave me the case. I had to be prepared for that, though.

But...

"It still doesn't add up... If the flu killed them, then how could they be-... Wait... you mean... you think they're... _un_ dead?"

Nick nodded somberly.

"Nick, that's ridiculous."

"But doesn't it back Mr. Big's claim?"

"I... I guess, but..."

"But what?"

I turned away from him. My eyes were shut tightly as I remembered the promise I had made when I took the case. Mrs. Otterton... she hasn't seen her husband in ten days, and the ZPD couldn't do anything to find him. If I came back to her just to tell her he could be...

But he wouldn't be, either. That's what Nick was saying. Could he be right? No. He can't be. It doesn't make sense, that type of thing isn't possible. It just... isn't.

"We'll know when we find them all," I stated firmly, looking up towards the Manchas residence. "Let's go."

"Carrots, I told you, I'm not going. I'm going _home_ , to warn Finnick and the others. If I turn out to be right, they could end up in danger, or worse."

"And how do I know you won't just try to hide again?"

"You know what I look like, don't you? You'll just run me through the system and have every officer in the city looking out for me. I won't exactly be able to hide after that."

"I'm an officer, Nick. I can't just let you go off into the night, even if I can run you through. You either come with me right now and help me solve this case, or I cuff you to the car and you can wait while I do it myself."

Nick opened his mouth as if to object or argue further, but furrowed his brow. He turned to look down the road, as if attempting to think of a way to outrun me, but a simple realization let him know that would never be the case. He stared at me in defeat, knowing he wasn't going to be able to get his way. Whether or not he was telling the truth about the mammals and his friends would be up to face, but right now, just finding them was more than important, no matter the outcome.

But Wilde didn't seem to agree with me, if walking to the car and holding his paw up against the steering wheel was any indication. Giving his answer, I unraveled my set of cuffs and wrapped one around his wrist, and the other around the steering wheel. Making sure the keys were on me, I gave the fox a small sigh that said more than enough.

I turned away again and stared at the house from afar. With a deep breath, I started forward.

"Sam is alive."

Those three words were enough to make me stop in my tracks, any sense of determination being completely blinded and wiped away in favor of something else. I craned my head towards Nick.

"... What did you say?" I hesitated, and so did he.

* * *

 **Nicholas Wilde**

"Sam Wolfe. Wolfshire Wolfe... your ex-boyfriend. He's alive."

Whenever I revealed big secrets like this, it usually would have felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And yet, when I told her that the one mammal she thought was gone was actually alive, it did nothing. In fact, she acted as if I had threatened her - and I very well may have, in her mind.

"How do you know his name?" she asked, almost coldly. "How do you know who he is?"

I saw her reaching down, as if instinctively reaching for a taser that wasn't there.

"He's my friend."

"I don't believe you."

"Judy." I looked her in the eyes as I spoke her real name for the first time, no intent to look away. "He's my friend."

Her own stare seemed to lift a bit, but she kept herself fixated on me, demanding with her eyes more information from me.

"He left Wolfshire the night after the fire. Came all the way here to the city just to start over. I found him on the streets just barely getting by. I saved his life. Finnick and I, we took him in and got him into the business. He didn't want to do it at first... and a part of me's still convinced he doesn't want to... but he said it was far better than the streets."

"You're... you're serious...?"

I nodded.

"But... the body. I saw it myself, when they took it down. It was him, it looked like... him."

"It was someone else," I tried to explain. "Someone who didn't want to be known. It was just a coincidence they looked alike. He said it was better off everyone thought he was dead. He didn't think anyone would miss him."

That last sentence seemed to rip Judy's heart out of place, and soon enough, she was staring blankly forward, rather than any actual thing. One of her paws subconsciously rose to her chest, and her eyes began to tear up just faintly. It was no guess that memories started to come back to her, potentially haunting her of every waking moment leading up to the instant she saw _him_ hanging from a tree.

A tear struggled to fall down her face, but she kept it in; and yet, I could still see every emotion that she would've let out otherwise. She sniffled to herself.

"Did he tell you that?"

I shook my head, then turned my body to show my phone that had been sitting in my back pocket. I guided her to my voicemail and had her open up the most recent one.

 _"Hey, Nick, it's Sam. Just calling to make sure everything is okay-"_

She quickly stopped playing it. Even just hearing the first word was enough to let her know that it was his voice, and it was entirely indistinguishable. Her eyes started to water, and a faint, hopeful smile appeared on her face.

"He also has a bad habit of butt dialing."

She let out a sniffled laugh, and that alone let me know that it had been common in her life, as well. She was able to find the phone call I had saved. It wasn't clear as if talking to someone normally, but even I could still understand every word.

 _"I left_ everything _because I had nothing left. ... I just remember hearing that they looked for me, for days, talking about it on the local radios. They didn't find anything for a long time."_

Judy's face started to freeze as she realized what he was going to say, going to mention.

 _"And then they found this body of a wolf who had taken their life by the river near my house. He looked so much like me... they were convinced it_ was _me."_

She seemed to swallow a lump in her throat, and that dismal gleam in her eyes was like she was reliving that moment all over again. How she experienced it, she wouldn't say or ever mention, but just the look on her face could tell me it had been the most traumatic experience for her. Did she blame herself all those years? What was she thinking now?

 _"She doesn't even know I'm alive."_

The call cut off there. Hopps put the phone back in my pocket and turned away, leaving herself to her thoughts, just for a moment. I could hear her swallow again, and she seemed to hug her body. I knew she was holding back tears, or very well trying to, but refused to show me.

"He misses you, you know," I told her. "He still even has a picture of the two of you in his wallet, from high school. He said he was too poor to buy a yearbook."

I didn't see it, but I knew she had been smiling, even begging herself to laugh.

"He never got over you. Even after he started seeing... someone else - he still thought of you from time to time."

"... Really...?"

"Yeah."

Her breathing was slowed again, calmer, but she was ultimately and definitely thinking of plenty in her mind. It was a lot to take in, no doubt. But I had to tell her, otherwise I wasn't leaving here, and... well, who knows?

"Listen... Carrots... I'll help you. I can't exactly turn it down at this point, can I? But if I help you, you have to promise me that you'll let me go. You'll let me go and warn them, tell them to prepare. Even if I'm wrong, it's better safe than sorry... right?"

The rabbit took in a deep breath and let it out in a blow. She then turned to me and nodded.

"Okay. But if I do... you'll take me to him."

"Are you sure?"

"There's enough to show you're telling the truth. But I still want to see. I need to see. I just need to."

I gave her a comforting smile and nodded. There was no way now that I would ever deny her that right or chance, even if I wanted to, or even if she wasn't a police officer. Raising my wrists to her, I let her unlock my cuffs. I found myself rubbing my wrists a few times, tending to them gently. After a moment, I found myself looking over to the household again and realized neither of us had any idea what we were going to walk into. Would we get the information we needed without hassle? Or would we end up becoming part of the growing statistic?

"Let's go solve a case, I guess," I said in that casual tone. Outside, I was once again determined in her eyes.

Inside, I was growing nervous.

Hopps and I crossed the bridge, occasionally looking down into the green abyss below us. When we were on the other side, Hopps double-checked to be sure this was indeed the correct address. At the door, she gave three gentle knocks.

"Mr. Manchas?" she called out. "Judy Hopps, ZPD. We just want to know what happened to Emmitt Otterton."

Patiently, she waited, while I glanced back and forth between the windows, the door, and the yard of the house. Everything seemed to be as normal as a home in the Rainforest District could be. But there was just one thing that I quickly noticed. On the ground, next to the door, were newspapers, well over ten papers, none of them opened. Upon closer inspection, I realized all of them were editions of the past week and a half. It further proved Mr. Big's claims.

"Hello? Sir?"

Hopps knocked a couple more times and waited a few more moments, but there was nobody coming to the door. It was complete silence on the other side. I put the papers down and walked up to the front door, turning the door knob and expecting it to be locked. As Hopps began to ask what I was doing, the door opened with no resistance, and we were greeted with nothing but a dark abyss, barely lit by the outside.

"Do you have a flashlight?" I questioned, my voice down to a whisper.

"Yeah." Hopps reached in her belt and took out a small cling-able flashlight that she attached to her chest. With a single click, the light shone up the entire living room of the house, revealing only a place frozen in time - and no doubt, frozen in chaos.

The entire living room of the home looked as if there had been a mass struggle, a fight of some sort. Chairs had been toppled over, a glass table shattered, one of the light fixtures on the ceiling now on the floor and broken.

Hopps went in first, inspecting the place slowly and being careful not to cut herself on the shards that littered the floor. I did the same, following behind her. As we went deeper into the household, I noticed that other than her flashlight, there was not a single source of light throughout the entire home, not even from under the doors leading to other rooms, and the air was feeling a bit thick, which was usual for the Rainforest, but not like this.

"Mr. Manchas?" Hopps called out carefully, turning about to illuminate other parts of the interior. I could see nervousness begin to form on her face, but she still held a look of bravery. Perhaps she truly was brave, and the nervousness was the facade instead.

Getting by the glass, there was something else on the floor that we happened to notice at last. A spray of fluid was all along the wooden floors of the living room, splattered onto the walls. It was a black, dry liquid, and I assumed it to be oil, as there was a small, knocked over can of oil nearby. When I shook the can around and opened it, it was completely full. Just opening the cover, it was new, entirely untouched. I looked for another can, but found nothing.

That was when we started to smell it; the unbearable stench, a pungent, sweet, but also bitter smell that filled the air, hitting us like a freight train. I stopped in my tracks.

"Ugh," Hopps groaned, "It smells like something died in here."

I wasn't laughing. Instead, I looked back to the black liquid. Only it wasn't just any liquid.

It was blood.

"... Something _did_."

As soon as she noticed what I was pointing to, and the assumptions I was making - and knowing that they were now more true than ever - she reached for her walkie talkie and spoke into it.

"Officer Hopps to dispatch, I might need some backup on standby, over."

"Will do, _Officer_ Hopps!" a voice sprang on the other side of the radio, giggling as if in a somewhat more-cheery-than-normal manner. "What's for the occasion?"

"... A possible 10-54."

The voice didn't respond for a few seconds, but when it did...

"Oh... copy that. I'll have a team on standby for you."

... it was no longer cheery as it was just seconds ago.

"Thank you, Clawhauser."

Hopps put her radio away and sighed. I knew it was something she thought she'd never have to say. But that was the risk she took when signing up for this, and she knew that.

"Do you think that...?"

"Let's just hope both of us are wrong."

A second later, we heard something crash to the floor, in another room, behind a closed door. We both snapped our eyes to that specific door, down the hallway. The smell was the strongest, so it had to have been coming from there. I started walking forward, but Hopps stopped me.

"Wait here," she whispered.

"Carrots, wait...!"

But she didn't heed my warning, instead going forward, down the hallway, flashlight pointed forward and paw hovering over the now-visible taser. She walked slowly, making sure there was as little noise made from her movements as possible. To her, it was easier, considering her breed and size, but even then, there was still some noise she took into account.

Hopps slowly and gently made her way down the hall, to the door. I saw her use one of her ears to cover her mouth, assuming the smell was much stronger where she stood. I saw her shake her head for a moment and even attempt to hold her breath.

Suddenly, there was another crash from behind the door, forcing her to emit a tiny gasp. Now, she had taken out her taser and pointed it towards the door, just in case she was taken by surprise. Maybe it was just me, but I also thought I could see her even shake just a little.

The tension seemed to grow the closer she got to the door, but before she could reach it, I crouched my way over to her, even as she told me to stay put. Ultimately, she turned back to the door again and started forward. I covered my snout with my shirt, though it was way too strong to cover with such thin clothing.

Moments later, we were just a few feet from the door, and that was when we heard these noises coming from behind. It sounded like raspy, hissing breaths, or low, deep growls. No doubt, there was someone... or something behind there.

Paw on the taser and the other hovering resting firmly on the doorknob, she sighed. Then, with a single huff of air, she hopped up, pressed her hind paws against the wall, and opened the door swiftly.

What then stood in front of us were three mammals: two polar bears and a jaguar, surrounded by a strong smell, and their bodies seemingly balded and bloated, their eyes drifted and staring seemingly forward.

And then, as all six eyes stared right at us, the entire house went deathly quiet. There was no hiss or growl, not even a breath from the two of us. It was entirely silent.

Then they _charged_ at us. The jaguar, as slow as he was, still acted as if he tried to leap at us, but Hopps and I were quick enough to dodge it and let the mammal fall to the floor. The jaguar tried reaching for me, clawing at me but never being close enough to hurt me.

Suddenly, Hopps fired her taser at the jaguar, hoping it would subdue him long enough for me to get away. But it did nothing, absolutely nothing. The taser was worthless! The jaguar, I assumed it was Manchas, was quickly on top of me, a tingling sensation running through me as the effects of the now discharged taser went from his body to mine.

The moment his body touched mine, I could instantly feel this sensation of slimy, porous skin, with patches of fur falling onto my body as he shook, snarled, and tried to bite down on my face, but I was strong enough to keep him off me, and yet I still shouted.

"Help!"

Without hesitation, she answered. Hopps' foot made contact with Manchas' face, and while it didn't phase him, it knocked him off me just enough for me to break free, just before the polar bears could get close enough to me.

"Run," she shouted. "RUN!"

And so I ran, right behind her, sprinting for my very life as we were chased by three different mammals, all of whom shared the same looks and afflictions. They groaned and moaned behind us, but we didn't turn back until we were outside. Once there, we shut the front door and tried to catch our breath towards the bridge. Because the door opened inward, we had no reason to worry about our pursuers. All they could do, at least by the time they were at the door, was bang or slam their bodies against it. It was as if they didn't know how to simply turn a door knob and open it.

We were lucky that they didn't seem to run, or rather sprint, at us. But that didn't entirely mean we were out of the clear, and Hopps knew it.

"Them all together, that's gotta be well over two-thousand pounds leaning against that."

"Will we be okay?" I asked, still panting.

She didn't immediately respond. "... We should just head over to the bridge. Just in case."

Taking her words seriously, I walked over with her to the bridge, ready to cross it should the door suddenly come crashing down. On the short walk over, I overheard Hopps talking into the radio again, reporting "multiple" 10-91Vs. She wasn't all entirely wrong.

It wasn't until we were finally on the bridge that I leaned over and threw up over the side and into the abyss below, the smell finally getting to me. Almost frantically, I started to wipe myself off, hoping to get rid of the smell, but even after that, the smell, while not as strong, still remained, and it took whatever strength was left not to vomit again.

"Are you okay...?" Hopps asked me, just having cleaned off her own feet.

I let out a sigh and swallowed the spit in my mouth. "They're... they're dead."

"Wha... How... how do you know-"

"I know what a dead body looks like."

Immediately, her expression changed into one more questioning.

"Not like that," I corrected. "I was walking home a few years ago one night. I decided to take a shortcut into an alleyway and I... I found a body of this tiger, hidden under all these sheets. He had to have been dead for two weeks, at most. Bloated, patches of fur missing, covered with this _slime_ , flies all over him... staring forward. Even after the police came and took away the body, I could never get that image out of my head. That tiger was dead."

I turned to the door, pressing forward occasionally but never giving way.

"Just like those polar bears. Just like that jaguar. The smell. That... smell... They must've died well over a week ago."

"But... they're still moving."

"Yeah. I know."

She shook her head. "But that's impossible. That just can't happen. Dead animals can't just... come back."

"Then what do you call that?"

"Rabies. Necrosis. Delirium. Anything that makes sense, but not ... that. Just not..."

Suddenly, Hopps' face changed, realization and fear mixing together. Her breath quickened.

"Jenny... my sister. My siblings. Some of them have the flu. Are... Is this going to happen to them? Are they going to...?"

But all I could do was shake my head.

"I don't know, Carrots. Maybe I'm wrong and this whole thing is separate. Maybe the mammals getting sick have nothing to do with... this."

"But if you're right..."

"Then you need to be ready for that." I sighed, turning away from her. "You have to be."

We waited for the police to arrive, all while the trio of animals inside continue to claw and bang themselves against the door. Never stopping, always moaning.

God, I hoped I was all wrong.

* * *

 **Judy Hopps**

They banged on the door for twenty minutes. After the first few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, and I brought Nick and I back to the car and waited for the backup to arrive. The entire time, I was thinking of home. Thought of Jenny and the others.

What if Nick was right? What if this flu was really what killed the animals? What if they really are dead and those are just their corpses, driven by... something, an urge to kill everything around them? What if...

Would that be Jenny? Bobby? Sammy, Lily, Maya... mom?

I tried to shun those thoughts. I couldn't let them get to me, let me think that. I could only hope it wasn't true and Nick was seeing things wrong. No public eye would ever take the possibility of the dead coming back to life lightly, even if it _was_ heard of.

Twenty minutes after I made the call, backup arrived on the scene, followed by Chief Bogo himself. Upon looking at me the first time, he had this strict look on his face, like he wasn't all too happy to see me and was convinced I was already wasting his time. But as soon as he saw the look I gave him back, his expression lifted just a little.

"Fill us in, Hopps," he began. "Tell us everything."

At first, I began to explain as I normally would have, everything that led to arriving at the residence - minus the part about Mr. Big, at least for now - but when it came to Nick's claims about the animals being potentially... dead, I left that part out.

"They came at us, all three of them trying to rip into us. They were slow enough that we could get away," I claimed, "but... it... It was like they went savage, sir."

Chief Bogo seemed to scoff at the word. "Savage? This isn't the Stone Age, Hopps. Animals don't go savage."

"Maybe not, sir. But I can't see any other way this could be something else."

"As in?"

"Drugs, delirium, paranoia. The way they acted towards us didn't fit any of those fields. They didn't even flinch when I tased them. Not even once."

"How is that possible?" an officer questioned.

"I'm not sure. It was on full charge too, made contact with skin and everything, but nothing worked."

Chief Bogo spoke again. "And you're absolutely certain that these animals are connected to the missing mammals, Hopps?"

"At least one of them, Emmitt Otterton. We ran the plates Otterton was last seen in, which sourced back to the Tundratown Limo Service, which then traced us to a Mr. Renato Manchas."

"The jaguar."

"Exactly. Whatever happened to Manchas could be what happened to Otterton - and whatever happened to Otterton..."

I couldn't finish the sentence. The idea of someone like Emmitt, a small, tiny otter ending up like that. Thankfully, Bogo didn't try to force me to finish my words. All of us continued across the bridge until we were at the house once again.

However, when we got there, the banging had stopped. There was no noise coming from the other side of the door, not even the stumble of their feet. There was no way they could have just disappeared or left the house. From here, that was impossible. They were still inside, somewhere.

"Renato Manchas!" Chief Bogo hollered. "This is Chief Bogo of the Zootopia Police Department. We believe you have information regarding the disappearance of Emmitt Otterton. We need you and your... friends to come out with your paws in the air! You are _not_ under arrest, only investigation!"

Everyone waited in silence for a few moments, expecting the jaguar or the polar bears to open the door and walk out. But there was nothing and no one there to heed the request. That gave Bogo a cue to move two other officers to the door. Nick stood at the edge of the bridge, staring intently, but not moving.

As the officers got closer to the door, that was when we could all smell it. Bogo pointed it out and even had to cover his nose when it got strong enough. By now, I knew that _that_ smell was nothing but fear itself to me. They were still here.

One of the officers, a canine, held his ear up to the door and listened, acknowledging movement behind. Taser in paw, he held the other on the door knob.

"Stand back, sir!"

With a quick push, he opened the door, revealing nothing but black darkness. Instantly, the two officers were overcome with a full burst of the foul odor.

"Oh, god! What is that-"

Before the dog could answer the question, he and the other officer were ambushed by the three animals, who did nothing but growl and scream at them. The other officer was quickly surrounded by the two polar bears, and his immediate instinct was to tase them; but the taser did nothing to stop the bear from swiping at the leopard cop, who screamed as soon as the claws dragged across his face.

"He got my eye!" he shouted, quickly doing his best to back away. Immediately, I ran over to help him up.

As soon as the leopard was out of harm's way, I grabbed his baton, ran back, and started to hit away, as hard as I could, at the polar bear's legs, hoping to subdue him that way. Unfazed by my actions, the polar bear swiped at me, but missed by just inches.

"Stop! Now!" I shouted, but the mammal didn't listen, or maybe didn't know how to listen.

"Hopps, get away from him!" Bogo shouted at me, trying to get the injured animal to the bridge.

I started running away, doing as he told, but in the panic, I tripped on sets of vines that littered the ground. When I got back up, I could only recoil in pain. I had to have twisted my leg, if not sprained it. I could only get up and limp as fast as I could, but even then, the polar bear was quicker, practically beginning to jog towards me.

He was fast enough that me crawling was faster than my slow limp. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body, mixed with the fear that forced me to keep moving. Even then, it wasn't enough. The polar bear was coming up quickly behind me. The other bear was in the process of tackling another officer to the ground, and Manchas was being tased, despite it not working.

The polar bear fell to the ground, crawling behind me. With a single swipe of a claw, I was in his grasp, and he quickly yanked me back. I swore I could hear Nick scream my name... but I was out of focus. It took seconds for me to realize I was screaming for help, trying to break free from the polar bear's grasp.

I could feel myself, remember that I was breaking down into tears, as I realized, convinced myself that I was going to die - and nobody would be able to save me.

Not even-

And then, before I could even finish the thought, a loud bang echoed through the jungle, and then I was suddenly free, the polar bear immediately releasing his grip on me and letting me fall to the ground. With the remaining strength I had, I crawled away to safety. It took a moment to notice that my ears had started to ring, but I was still able to hear two more hesitant bangs. Was someone firing a gun?

By the time I found myself on the bridge, I could hear the indistinct shouting of officers left and right, some coming to me, and others walking towards... Nick?

He was holding a gun firmly in his paws, only for a second before the officers forced it out of them, and him to the ground. He had his arms behind his back and seeming to comply. It was all I could see. I winced in pain, holding my head and shaking it almost too hard.

"Officer Hopps?" I heard the muffled voice of an officer speak to me. "Are you okay?"

"Y... Yeah," I said.

Only I wasn't. A moment later, I blacked out. Or maybe I did, I wasn't too sure.

But the next moment I opened my eyes, I was laying on my back, with an officer standing nearby, seeming to check up on me from time to time. I recognized her as Francine from roll call. When she noticed I had woken up, her face lifted into a smile.

"Hey there, honey," she began. "How are you feeling?"

At first, I didn't say anything, only attempted to. I winced and held a paw up to my head, but what I felt instead was a bandage, wrapped carefully around the base of my left ear, and another around my head.

"Easy there. You took a lot of hurt. We don't need you hurting yourself anymore than you already have."

"But I... I didn't even feel anything."

"We all saw it. You hit your head pretty hard getting away."

I let out a deep breath, shaking just a bit from the soreness. Getting up, I realized I was in the back of a police vehicle, an officer's jacket covering me and keeping me warm; but the rainforest on its own was already warm, so it didn't take long to decide to push the jacket away. Francine offered to help me up, but I told her I would be okay.

Glancing around the environment, I realized we were still by the Manchas residence, on the other side of the bridge. Officers were everywhere, either investigating the interior of the home, or taking their own notes or photographs outside. Two separate ambulances were on the scene. One of them were just now taking off with the injured officers from earlier, the leopard giving out an occasional agonized groan as he held his face.

The other ambulance lifted three body bags into the back. It didn't take me long to realize who they were.

Or who shot them.

"... Where's Nick?"

"Mr. Wilde's been detained. They took him down to the station fifteen minutes ago."

All I could do was stare at Francine, confused out of my mine. "What? Why?!"

"He took a firearm from an officer's holster and shot three suspects without clearance."

"But he saved my life!" I opposed. "He saved _their_ lives-!"

"And they're grateful for that. We all are, hon. But it's still protocol; he still violated the law. Surely, you understand that, don't you?"

"I..." Instead, I sighed, accepting it. "I know."

I stared over at the officers exiting the house, while others went in to help investigate. Chief Bogo stood near the front door and glanced in our direction. He gave me a subtle nod before turning back to the building.

"He's not gonna go to prison, is he?"

"No. No, I don't think so," she shook her head. "If it was any other situation, possibly. But he shot them in self-defense. The only charge he would get is stealing an officer's weapon... despite being for a good reason. He'll likely be detained for a few days until we can place charges."

"Will I be able to see him?"

"Of course. He'll be in the local jail. I can't see someone like him going to prison for saving officers' lives... fox or not."

"Yeah... Yeah."

If Nick was right... would there even be prisons left?

Ignoring the thought, I exited the car and started walking back over the bridge, to the house.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Hopps?"

"Yeah. I think."

Once I was over the bridge, I looked all around me. The atmosphere was calmer now, if not still a bit tense. A couple of officers had cameras in their paws, taking photos of the places where the bodies of the polar bears and Manchas fell, laid with tape and caution signs. The smell of their bodies was still strong, but interestingly, no one seemed to question it. Had they never smelled a body before?

I... I can't say I haven't.

Suddenly, I heard vibrations nearby. I started to glance around the environment trying to find the source, but didn't see it at first, so all I could do was listen in until it got closer. The closer I was, the louder it got. It wasn't until I was standing directly in a bush that I found the source.

Nick's phone. He must've dropped it when he was pushed to the ground. Did he leave it here on purpose, or was it an accident? Where he fell, there was no way it was an accident.

I didn't spend time looking at it; Bogo would see it, and it would probably be evidence to him. As wrong as it was, I kept it secret from him, putting it in my pocket and hoping he wouldn't notice. When I got back up to my feet, nobody seemed to notice what I had been doing. Perhaps they assumed I was looking for evidence, helping with the investigation. They wouldn't entirely be wrong.

"Hopps," I heard Bogo say to me from behind. His tone was calm, almost concerned. "You should head home, rest a while."

"But I can still help here-"

"You did help. Thanks to you, we have a lead on the mammals. It's not a strong lead, but it's a lead nonetheless."

"But... what about my-"

"I was wrong to force this case onto you. I was cross; still am, slightly. But if an entire precinct couldn't find any information in two weeks, how could we expect a rookie to do it in 36 hours?"

He sighed, turning away from me.

"And even with that... you could've died today. I know you understand that, and I understand that. But you still weren't prepared for something like this... not even the most experienced."

Bogo turned back to me, his expression genuine, but stern.

"I want you to go home and rest. Don't go back to the station until you're feeling fine. Or rather, don't try getting back to work so soon. I need you in top shape the next time you're on duty. Understand?"

I didn't try to protest. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now go on, Hopps."

With a hesitant nod, I walked away, heading back over the bridge for possibly the umpteenth time, and started for the car I arrived here in. Some of the officers I passed by told me to feel better, others congratulating me for helping them, whether with the case or keeping the other officers alive.

I could only exchange a faint smile before I drove away. The rainforest was still all too dark, but I had to assume the sun was starting to rise at this point, whatever time it was. I gently rested a paw on my bandaged ear, tending to it carefully, but pulled away when a small, sharp pain ran through. It had to have torn a bit. It didn't _feel_ bad... but looks were different than feelings.

I waited a few minutes, until I was long out of sight of the officers, before I pulled over to the side of the road, just as rain started to come down in clumps from the leaves above.

Safely under the hood of the car, I pulled out Nick's phone and turned it on. I let out a frustrated sigh as the screen came on.

"Password protected," I mumbled. "Great."

Turning off the phone, I started to slide it back into my pocket, but quickly recoiled as I felt something crinkle inside. Pulling the phone out, I reached into my pocket and noticed a tiny slip of paper with four numbers: 0320.

How did I not notice that earlier? Maybe I was too focused on other things and... never mind.

Pressing the button on the side again, the phone came back on, and I simply entered the four numbers in order. I was then automatically sent to a GPS app that marked a single address. It seemed to be settled on the outskirts of the city, on the docks.

Could that be where Nick lives?

Could that be where... _he_ lives?

"I guess I'll find out," I said to myself, resting the phone inside a tripod. It corrected itself horizontally, directing me on a straight path to the Zootopia Shipping Yard, residing on the outskirts of Savannah Central.

With my foot pressed gently on the gas, I started forward. It would be almost an hour before I got there.

Inside, I could feel this bubbling sense of nervousness and uncertainty. I was going to be there for so many reasons. It was more than believable that I would be going there to see a... friend that I thought had been dead for more than half a decade. Just to face him again and be all kinds of things to him, for him, was acceptable.

But to tell them that dead animals were coming back to life?

That needed more than just an explanation. I don't think I have one.

* * *

 **I'm currently attempting to add more story from different characters, rather than wait a chapter to write about other characters like some stories do. In the next chapter, I'd like to show story on Judy's side, then on Nick's side. Several days are going to pass over the next couple of chapters, so you're not going to have to wait 30 chapters for the collapse.**

 **For the 3 people who still remember and read this story, I'm sorry for taking two years to update, and I'll definitely try not to take so long to update next time. I want to get a few new chapters out by the time I start my next year of college in August. This idea is, so far, one of my favorites, and I really want to expand on it!**

 **Stay tuned...? I hope?**


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